Battle Front
by BelleDayNight
Summary: Fresh out of medical school she must serve her term with the Army where she'll cross paths with a mysterious pilot with a heart of stone.Will her past love keep hold of her heart or will there be room for someone new? EnishixKaoruxAoshi and other pairings
1. Chapter 1

**Battle Front**

**Summary: **Fresh out of medical school she must serve her term with the Army where she'll cross paths with a mysterious pilot with a heart of stone she is determined to soften. (KaoruEnishi)

Kaoru took a deep breath and tried to relax. Today was her first day as a real doctor. It was hard to believe that just the week before she was a fourth year medical student cramming for her Boards exam. Now she was to serve her country in the war-torn Middle East. Joining the Army to pay for medical school had seemed like a good idea at the time. She could be both patriotic and work towards saving lives at the same time. The reality was quite different. She smiled at the soldier sitting stoically across from her, but he simply ignored her. He was too focused on his next mission to pay her much attention.

The driver of the desert jeep parked outside of the camp that would be her home for the next six months. Kaoru tried valiantly to keep a fresh smile upon her face as she gathered her small bag of medical supplies. The rest of her belongings should have arrived the day before.

She felt very alone as the stoic soldier walked her to the entrance, still not saying a word to her. He led her to the main officer's headquarters where Hajime Saitou, the man in charge, was seated at his desk comfortably smoking a cigarette.

The soldier saluted the general before exiting the room, leaving Kaoru alone with the amber eyed man. "It's nice to meet you Dr. Kamiya," Saitou greeted, gesturing towards the chair in front of his desk.

Kaoru sank deep into the leather cushions. "I'm excited to be working here." Kaoru smiled at him, unsure of the proper greetings. She went to officer's training, but it was different now. She was a second lieutenant, but because she was a doctor she wasn't a real soldier. It was all rather confusing.

Saitou ground out his cigarette into a nearby ashtray sitting on his desktop. "Excited isn't the word I would use to describe how you must be feeling, Kamiya." He offered a thin lipped smile that sent shivers down her spine. "I would say scarred witless is a more accurate description."

"I'm not scared." Kaoru's smile disappeared as she sat rigidly in the leather chair, gripping the armrests tightly.

"Good." Saitou rose from his chair and moved to the front of the desk and gestured for Kaoru to stand as well. "Then you won't have any problems getting started. I had just received a call a few minutes ago from the Med-Evac team. We've got a chopper full of injured men that should be arriving in the next fifteen minutes."

Kaoru followed General Saitou towards the medical unit. She tried to ignore the nervous jitters she felt for suddenly being pushed into the role of doctor. No longer was she a student but she was responsible for the lives of men!

"Dr. Takani, this is Dr. Kamiya. You are to show her around," Saitou ordered a tall, slender woman.

The woman gave Saitou a brief salute before extending her hand to Kaoru. "Call me Megumi, you must be Kaoru."

Kaoru smiled at the woman in relief. Things weren't going to be too bad with at least Megumi around. She seemed nice enough. Megumi dropped her hand quick as if she was burned and then turned on her heel and smacked an injured man hard on his bandaged chest.

"Jeez fox, can't you give me a break? I've got two broken ribs here!" Sanosuke cried. He looked over Megumi's shoulder towards Saitou and Kaoru. "Hi General, any new missions you got for me?"

Saitou's eyes narrowed in annoyance. "After you help unload the Med-Evac helicopter you can go to the kitchens and scrub all the pots. Maybe you'll be less likely to break more ribs that way." Saitou turned to Kaoru. "Dr. Kamiya, I suggest you prepare for your patients." He looked down at his watch. "They should be here momentarily." He then left the three without another word.

Megumi left Kaoru and Sano as she sought out the nurses to prepare the medical supplies for the latest injured soldiers. Sano cleared his throat. "Don't worry missy, you'll like it here. The wolf and the fox just like to make others nervous."

Kaoru wasn't sure how to reply to the statement the wild haired man just made. She wasn't sure what the wolf and fox comment were in reference towards but perhaps it had to do with General Saitou and Dr. Takani. A roaring sound soon filled the air around them. "Chopper's here," Sano murmured heading towards the door, without waiting for Kaoru.

Kaoru ran her fingers nervously over her long pony tail. This whole army thing was feeling more and more like a mistake by the minute.

"Dammit! Hurry up! Do you want these men to die due to your incompetence?" an angry voice shouted. Kaoru looked through the open doorway to see Sano helping another figure pull a stretcher with an injured soldier towards the medical center. Kaoru stepped out of the way as they came towards her, only earning a glare from the one that had just shouted.

The look he sent her chilled her blood. His eyes were hidden behind some peculiar blue spectacles but she could tell that he was annoyed with her. His hair was a shock of messy white hair. She wondered if it was natural, dyed, or if it turned that way from stress. She'd seen many-a-medical student gone prematurely grey. "There are men that need your help _doctor_, how about you see to them instead of staring at me?" he asked coldly.

Kaoru clinched her jaw at his callous remark. The fact that he was tall and handsome and sort of exotic looking hardly mattered because he was acting as if she was purposely doing nothing. She just got there! How was she supposed to know how things worked? "How many more in the helicopter?" she forced herself to ask, trying to stay composed.

"If you would stop wasting time and looked yourself you would see," he answered as he and Sano deposited the man on one of the waiting cots. Megumi and an older man hurried to the soldier's side. Several nurses seemed to have appeared out of no where.

Kaoru quickly got out of the way as a couple of soldiers hurried to carry in more injured men. She decided to let the patients be carried in by those that knew what they were doing. It wasn't her job to transport the patients but to treat them. Quickly she headed towards one of the young men writhing in agony on a cot.

The young man couldn't have been more than 19 years old. She quickly discovered he had been shot in the arm. She called over one of the techs and they did a quick x-ray of the limb in question. It didn't appear that the bullet had injured any nerves or vessels but had simply went through the muscle and grazed the humorous bone. Kaoru spoke reassuringly to the young man, and made certain to start his IV drop of pain medications.

The nurse beside her handed her the tools she would need to remove the bullet and the few shattered bone pieces. The suturing kit lay unopened as she went about the task. In the back of her mind she counted four soldiers had been transported from the helicopter to the clinic. There were three doctors all together including herself plus a slew of nurses, so she was able to focus on the young man with the bullet in him. "You'll have a nice scar to impress all the ladies back home," she assured him.

The comment earned her a weak laugh from the young man. "I don't know that Tsubame is such a fan of my impressing a bunch of ladies." His dark eyes showed he had some humor about him. Kaoru automatically liked the young man. "I'm Private Yahiko Myojin by the way. I don't think I've seen you before."

Kaoru smiled at him. "I'm pretty new. Dr. Kaoru Kamiya at your service." She noticed that her nurse had vanished. She smiled apologetically. "I'll have to open these myself, just one more second okay?" Yahiko grimaced.

The kit was taken from Kaoru's hands before she could open it. "You must learn to control your help. An assistant is no good to you unless they are present to assist," the white haired man explained, presenting the tools for Kaoru's use. She quickly assembled the suturing kit and finished sewing up Yahiko's wounded arm.

"Thank you," Kaoru said to the man who stood beside her holding all the tools she needed ready before she asked for them.

"I didn't do it for you," he answered coldly. He glanced down at Yahiko's arm. "Private Myojin if you expect to have my job one day this is not the way to go about it," he said to the young man in what might have been considered a joking tone. He gave Kaoru one more cold look of indifference before leaving the clinic.

"Wow, he usually isn't that hostile," Yahiko commented as he inspected the job Kaoru did on his arm. He gave it a few experimental movements side to side and only grimaced a little.

"It's not pretty, but it should be fully functional in a few weeks. I want to put you in a sling for at least one week and for you to keep it immobilized," Kaoru explained. She looked over her shoulder towards the other doctors. It seemed they had everything under control. "I don't see why he was being such a jerk earlier, no one was in critical condition," Kaoru muttered to herself.

"Are you talking about Captain Yukishiro?" Yahiko asked. Kaoru furrowed her brows. "The white haired guy with the attitude that flew the chopper?" he explained, earning a nod from Kaoru. "Yeah, well, he lost his sister a few years ago."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

Yahiko leaned closer to Kaoru's ear. In a whisper he explained, so as not to be overheard and accused of gossip. "He was in medical school back in the states and he found out about it afterwards. She was pregnant and apparently she was having some troubles. The doctor didn't think it was anything urgent and sent her home."

"Wait, the helicopter pilot is a doctor?" Kaoru asked confused, mimicking Yahiko's whispered tones.

"No, his sister died in a way later that night and he quit medical school and joined the Army as a pilot within the same week."

"What do you mean by _she died in a way_?"

"It turns out her pregnancy caused her blood pressure to rise rather high. By the time she had it measured at the doctor's office it had pretty much stabilized so he sent her home. Later that night she had a blood clot go to her brain." Yahiko paused. "She lost the baby too."

"I don't understand. She had pre-eclampsia? Or maybe a stroke?"

"Right, one of those and she's never been the same since. She has poor function of the left side of her body plus she can't have children anymore. She lost her balance at the top of some stairs after the stroke and fell down. Yukishiro's had a problem with doctors ever since, which is why he didn't want to become one." Yahiko hopped off the cot and flexed his arm once more. "You sure I need a sling?"

"Only if you want to be able to have full range of motion in your future," Kaoru answered as placed the sling around the young man's shoulder and elbow.

"Thanks doc, I hope to see you around, but not here of course." Yahiko grinned before lying back down on the cot. "I'll just hang around for a while until my pain medicine runs out. Sound good?"

Kaoru smiled, knowing that she had made the right decision in coming here. After all it was the patients that made life as a doctor worthwhile. She glanced at her fellow staff, each busy with their own tasks. She'd only been there for an hour and already she seemed to have met the key players for her life for the next six months.

The question now was how was she going to survive half-a-year with these people? Especially the white haired young man that already hated her for the mere fact that she existed!

_A/N revised 6/17/2008_


	2. Chapter 2

**Battle Front: Chapter 2**

After the minor crisis had been averted and all the patients brought in on the helicopter were stabilized Kaoru took a break. The clinic now had a slow, but steady stream of regularly appointed patients in for well-child checks, physicals, and the occasional head cold. The intern found herself wandering outside of the clinic in the unforgiving heat of the desert sun.

There was a small amount of shade offered by a little rest area created by a recently constructed gazebo. Wearily she settled herself on the railing of the wooden structure and gazed at the endless sands. Six long months of this kind of life stretched before her. And she wasn't feeling very optimistic about it.

With the exception of the young private that she met earlier, Yahiko, there didn't seem to be a single friendly soul at the base. Everyone was rather sharp with her and seemingly self-absorbed in their own tasks. They didn't have time to make the newbie feel welcomed and they didn't do anything to disguise this fact either.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed. A sense of homesickness began to overwhelm her as the sounds of planes flying in the distance kept her company in her solitude. She wondered about her younger sister, Misao and how she was coping with her being so far away. Soujiro, Misao's fiancé was supposed to be transferred to this division in the next two weeks.

At least when Soujiro arrived she would have someone from home to talk to. She also would have loved to have called her best friend from both college and medical school. Aoshi had been her friend since they met at Freshman orientation, not one month after high school graduation. She came from a large public high school and he came from an elite private school. Surprisingly they had clicked. They signed up for the same schedule of classes and were study partners through out all four years of undergraduate school. He wasn't a very social person but he could always be coaxed into going places with her.

All she had to do was ask and he'd agree to learn how to jitter-bug with her every Tuesday night for an entire semester. Or he'd come with her to some fraternity party and they'd keep each other company while everyone else got completely drunk since neither of them could hold their liquor. He did nix rather forcefully her idea of them actually joining respective fraternity-sorority societies during that first week of freshman year. But other than that one instant he had never denied her anything.

They had studied obsessively for the MCAT together and had later both been accepted into the same medical school. She smiled fondly at the memories of sharing a house together those past four years during medical school. That 'great deal' of a two story 'historic' home had caused the two to share many-a-nights under the same covers. A sly smile crossed her lips as she remembered how safe she would feel waking up with his arms around her, the foot of the bed covered with medical books, and him muttering off signs and symptoms of strange diseases in his sleep.

He too had signed up for the Army to fund his medical school. Unfortunately they had been assigned to different stations. But then what sane hospital staff would want to hire two inexperienced doctors at the same time?

Had it really been a month since she had last seen him? And nearly that long since she had last heard his voice. That was another bummer about working with the Army. You had limited access to the telephone and internet. She missed him more than anyone.

She failed to notice the shadow that now fell over her. "Deep thoughts?" a deep, cold voice interrupted her musings. Kaoru gave a jump in surprise but quickly composed herself, her cheeks only going a little red in a slight blush.

Enishi leaned against the railings across from Kaoru and gazed off into the distance behind her. Kaoru swallowed hard, unsure of what to say. He had asked a question— sort of. "I was just thinking of home," she answered truthfully.

The white haired man lifted his hand to the earpiece of his glasses and adjusted them slightly as he turned his attention towards her briefly. "Most of us do when we're stuck out in this wasteland." He crossed his arms over his chest and continued to stare off into the distance. His stance indicated that he no longer cared to discuss matters with her.

"So…"Kaoru drawled. She wasn't sure how to get on this man's good side. He already had a grudge against doctors and yet he chose a profession where he worked with them daily. Also, he was in medical school himself before he joined the Army. He really didn't have any right to take out his anger over his sister on her. She had been spoiled by her relationship with Aoshi that she had forgotten how to approach a standoffish man.

A snowy white brow rose at her in response, but he remained silent.

"When do you fly back out?"

A cold smile stretched across his mouth. "Ready to send me off to my doom so soon?"

Kaoru's eyes bulged at his assumption and she quickly rose to her feet in her own defense. "No! That's certainly not what I meant! I just was curious how often you'd be around is all."

Enishi slid his glasses down his nose at her and glanced at her over the top of them with the coldest look imaginable. "Don't worry, _doctor_, you won't have to deal with the likes of me any more than necessary." Those were his departing words, for he did an abrupt about-face and left the young doctor to gape at his retreating figure in complete bafflement.

"What was THAT about?" Kaoru asked herself as she sat down heavily back on the railing. She took a deep breath and stared off towards the east, missing her friends and family more than ever.

**oooooOOOOOooooo**

Misao grinned at the woman she was helping. It was remarkable. The progress she had made in just the last two months was simply astonishing.

The older woman smiled lopsidedly at the physical therapist. Her face was half paralyzed on one side, but with determination she was making progress in a recovery that all doctors but one told was a hopeless situation. They had said that she would never walk again. She would never regain full function on her utterly useless half-body. The stroke she had suffered four years before made such a recovery impossible.

And yet here she was, gripping the device in her hand with a muscle strength that was almost normal. She wasn't quite walking yet, but when she smiled, her smile was becoming just a little more even.

"Mrs. Himura, this is amazing! You're doing a fantastic job!" Misao encouraged. The woman's dark, sad eyes had some light return to them at the praise.

"I—" Tomoe took a deep breath, concentrating very hard on her speech. "I want to be able to walk on my own by the end of six months."

Misao smiled at her, not wanting to upset the woman by pointing out the obvious. Such a goal was unrealistic if not impossible. "Why six months?" she asked instead.

Tomoe offered another small, lopsided smile. "My brother will be home for leave by then. I don't want him to see me like this," she gestured to the weakened half of her body with her unaffected hand. She looked down at the wheel chair that she had grown accustomed to over the past four years. "I don't want to be sitting when he gets off the plane."

Misao silently gathered the tools for the other muscle building exercises they would be doing next. For years Tomoe had been coming to these therapy sessions. Misao had always just been the student, but now she was the therapist. And for years, Misao had watched as the proud, yet sad woman allowed her body to be manipulated so the muscles wouldn't waste away, though the power to control the muscles was vanquished.

Then, just a few weeks ago the woman had made a decision. It was like a light switch had been thrown and her spirit had returned. Instead of the empty shell of a woman she had been, she had arrived to her therapy session with a fierce determination and passion.

"I want to walk to him when he gets off the plane and embrace him on my own two feet," Tomoe declared. "I want to be his strong older sister."

"We'll certainly do our best," Misao agreed, her heart swelling for the other woman.

A frustrating two hours later, a somber man came to pick up his debilitated wife. Kenshin smiled in greeting at Misao. Tomoe was receiving the hot packs from a physical therapy assistant in the back. "How did she do?" he asked, looking apprehensive about the answer.

Misao shook her head sadly. "She came in with so much enthusiasm. I know she really wants control of her body again. I've never seen her like this. It's like she woke up." Misao searched the lavender eyes of the man standing before her.

"It's going to be a slow process," Kenshin answered softly, his gaze going towards the closed door where his wife was behind.

"What I want to know is why is she so determined NOW to regain her functioning?" Misao asked reaching out for Kenshin's forearm and squeezing it hard.

Kenshin gazed down at her fingers that had turned white under the pressure and sighed. "We had a fight. I told her that I wanted my wife back, the woman I married. That I would leave her if she didn't become more than the empty shell she had become."

"You told her that?" Misao gasped, her hand falling away from his arm as she quickly glanced towards the room Tomoe was in. She looked back at Kenshin with a sly smile. "Well it's about time! I just wish you had gotten her pumped up about this years ago! She doesn't need to be coddled. She needs to be inspired!"

**oooooOOOOOooooo**

Kaoru pushed around the mashed potatoes on her plate. The food was…unappealing to say the least. After returning to clinic after her odd encounter with the mysterious captain her afternoon had been incredibly hectic. The other doctors all had 'pressing' matters to attend to and she was stuck running the entire facility flying solo.

It wasn't that she didn't have confidence in her abilities. She was one smart cookie! It was just that the nurses weren't particularly helpful to her and seemed to be going out of their way to make her life more difficult. She didn't understand. During her rotations she always got along great with the nursing staff. So she knew it couldn't be her personality. She really wished she had someone to confide in here.

It was then that a tray was sat upon the table directly in front of her, jarring her from her thoughts. The large man with the messy dark hair grinned sheepishly at her for having made her jump. "Sorry missy, didn't mean to scare you," Sanosuke greeted. He glanced around the nearly empty mess-hall. "I always seem to miss the action now that got myself kitchen duty."

"How did you manage that again exactly?" Kaoru asked sincerely curious. This time it was Sano that jumped in surprise. He hadn't actually expected her to care.

"Well," Sano began, placing his elbows on either side of his tray and leaning toward her over the table, looking ready to divulge a deep secret. "Come closer, I really don't want the others to overhear."

Kaoru too, placed her elbows on either side of tray and leaned over the table, her face a few inches away from Sano's. She totally didn't see it coming. The dark haired man closed the distance and kissed her fully on the lips. He drew back with a smug expression on his face and then turned side-ways so he could prop his feet up on the chair next to him and cross his arms behind his head. "Yeah, Kamiya, I think this may be the start of a beautiful relationship."

She was livid. She reached for the untouched glass of milk that was sitting beside her tray and dumped it without remorse on the soldier's head. Satisfaction was her reward when Sano jumped in surprise at the feeling of cold liquid on his head and fell out of his chair.

Kaoru was about to walk out without a backwards glance when she heard the man moan. It was then that she remembered he had two broken ribs. She groaned at her own soft-heartedness and approached his side. He glared at her with annoyed brown eyes before they twinkled with mirth. "I guess it serves me right, huh?"

"Yes it does," Kaoru answered, helping him to his feet and handing him a napkin to attempt cleaning off his hair.

He ran his fingers through his damp hair and sighed. "Guess this means I'll have to take a shower now."

Kaoru arched a brow at this. "Guess so," she agreed, sincerely hoping that his comment didn't imply that he seldom took showers.

"Want to join me?" he invited, placing his arm around her shoulders after she had put her arm around his waist to help him walk out of the mess-hall. She was about to elbow him in the ribs when his hand clenched hard on her shoulder. "They're broken, remember?"

"Be careful that I don't decide to break some more ribs," Kaoru warned, ignoring the interested looks they were getting from all the people they passed leaving the mess-hall.

Sano remained silent, only speaking to instruct Kaoru of where his barracks were. When they reached the front doors he squeezed her shoulder again before opening the door. "You're one hell of a kisser, missy. If you change your mind about that shower you know where to find me." He gave her a wink and then left, leaving her to gape after his audacity.

Kaoru stood there with her fists clenched at her sides. She couldn't believe that some man had actually come on to her so brazenly. Well maybe she could, because always before Aoshi had stood at her side, serving as a silent warning to any who might consider.

She really didn't want to analyze the situation any longer. Aoshi wasn't here now. He had told her the last time they had spoken over the phone that he felt their separation would actually be good for them both. They had become a crutch to one another. If they were ever going to find a healthy relationship they'd have to spend some time apart. But, they had both wondered if their relationship was 'the one.' Which is why he had insisted that it was a good thing that they wouldn't be seeing each other so often.

So lost in her musings, Kaoru didn't see the figure that was turning the corner the same time as she, but from the opposite direction. It wasn't until she crashed head-on into a firm chest of an equally distracted person. She would have fallen flat on her back if a pair of strong arms hadn't banded around her waist. She looked up, only to meet a pair of coal-black eyes that she had only seen hidden behind blue spectacles before.

"You should pay more attention, _doctor_. I'd hate for you to make a careless mistake when you're doing surgery on one of my men," Enishi sneered, releasing the woman from his grasp.

Kaoru moved out of his way and let him pass. "I wasn't the only one that was distracted, _captain. _ I'd hate for you to make a careless mistake while transporting my patients."

Enishi paused and then turned around to stare at her silently. He then stalked back towards her with a predatory pace until he towered over her. "You know nothing about me," he hissed.

"Don't presume you know me either," Kaoru answered, not backing down, despite the fact that she was craning her neck to look him in the eyes.

"A status I'd prefer to maintain." Enishi turned away from her and stormed down the hallway leaving a baffled woman to stare after him.

A throat cleared behind Kaoru, causing her to jump. She turned around to see the private she had treated earlier shaking his head at her. "I heard about what happened in the mess-hall," Yahiko explained. He walked closer to her and offered his arm that wasn't in the sling. "Allow me to escort you to your apartment before you get accosted by any other men."

"I am so glad to see you," Kaoru told him with evident relief.

"Yeah, yeah, that's what all the pretty women say." Yahiko shook his head in mock weariness. "It should be a crime to be as devastatingly handsome and attractive as I am, but I try to break as few hearts as possible."

She couldn't help it. It felt good to laugh. And for the first time all day she wasn't home sick.


	3. Chapter 3

**Battle Front 3:**

The apartment Kaoru was assigned was fairly nice. It was a two bedroom apartment with a tidy kitchen, two baths and a spacious den. Her belongings had been placed in her bedroom for her while she had worked at the clinic. It turned out that her roommate was none other than the doctor Megumi. The elegant doctor didn't bother to greet her that evening or the next morning.

Megumi's boyfriend did however manage to introduce Kaoru to the kind of privacy one experiences in the Army. Kaoru was relaxing in the shower, letting the steamy water ease the tension from her muscles the following morning and wake her up. There was no lock on the bathroom door, but she figured that since it was connected to her bedroom she wouldn't have to worry about it. The sound of the bathroom door opening quickly snapped her out of her dazed state.

She heard the toilet seat being lifted and the tell-tale sound of trickling water hitting porcelain. Then the seat was closed and she could see the shadow of a large man standing in front of the sink, washing his hands. Her heart began to race. He seemed to turn in her direction from the sink and cleared his throat. Kaoru lifted back the corner of the shower curtain, making certain to hide her body behind it.

The man grinned at her, emerald green eyes twinkling as he did so. "I apologize for barging in like this, but Megumi locked the door to her bathroom and it was an emergency. I'm Katsu." He extended his hand as if to shake.

Kaoru just starred at him blankly.

Katsu withdrew his hand and scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably. "Be sure to flush the toilet when you get out, I didn't want to scold you." He turned towards the door and placed his hand on the knob. "Sano didn't do you justice in his description of you," he told her mysteriously before leaving the room and shutting the door behind him.

Kaoru tried to catch her breath. She had never had someone just walk in on her while taking a shower. And the way he seemed to look right through the shower curtain at her. She looked down and groaned.

The curtain was clear.

She hurried to finish her shower, no longer finding it relaxing. She remembered to flush the toilet and after she was fully dressed stomped towards the den with determination. She was going to give both Katsu and Megumi a piece of her mind for invading her privacy.

Unfortunately, neither were present.

She would just have to ignore her embarrassment and focus on her patients. Kaoru had just stepped through the front door when one of the nurses pulled her aside to explain a situation.

"Doctor Kamiya, do you think you could see Mrs. Williams this morning?" Nurse Felis asked, nervously tugging on her prematurely grey hair.

"I guess so, is she on my roster?" Kaoru asked. She could see the young Mrs. Williams standing in the lobby area, holding a small child to her and looking upset. "Nevermind, I'll see her now and put her in a room myself."

Kaoru walked past the relieved nurse and smiled at the young woman. "Mrs. Williams? I'm doctor Kamiya, would you follow me?" The child reached for Kaoru and she welcomed the young boy in her arms. One look at his matted pink left eye and she knew what the trouble was. He put his arms around her neck rubbed the right side of his face against her white coat. So much for sterile environment.

After leading the family into the room Kaoru shut the door and sat on the examining table herself holding the boy in her lap. The mother reached for the box of tissues and dabbed at her eyes. "I'm sorry. I just couldn't deal with that horrible woman anymore."

"That's fine," Kaoru assured her, not having any idea what the young mother was talking about. She looked down at the boy. "So what's your name, handsome?"

"Tommy," the boy answered with a solemn expression. He pointed to his left eye. "My eye feels funny. Like it on fire."

"I bet it does, Tommy," Kaoru agreed. She looked over at the mother. "Mrs. Williams, how long has his eye been bothering him?"

"About two days now," Mrs. Williams answered. "He's had this gross green crusty stuff in the mornings."

"Yeah, it's probably bacterial conjunctivitis." She glanced back at the mother. "Pink eye." She used her opthalmascope and checked out the boy's ears, nose and throat. "Can I listen to your heart?" she asked, slipping her stethoscope into her ears. Tommy nodded his head and Kaoru listened to both his heart and lungs.

She turned towards his mother. "I'll give you some antibacterial eye drops. This is a self-limiting condition so it will resolve on its own from a week to ten days. These drops will certainly help to relieve the irritation though." She grinned at Tommy. "Little man you have to make sure you don't rub that eye and make sure that your hands are very clean, okay?"

Tommy nodded his understanding and Kaoru lifted him in her arms and tried to hand him back to his mother, but he clung to her. "Can't I stay with you?" Kaoru gave him a soft smile.

"Come on, Tommy, the nice doctor is a busy lady." Mrs. Williams pulled her boy out of Kaoru's arms. "Thank you, doctor." She and Kaoru walked towards the front where Kaoru handed the chart and the drug prescription to the receptionist. Mrs. Williams gestured towards Megumi. "I'm so glad you're here so that I don't have to deal with that horrible woman."

Kaoru really wanted to ask what happened, but bit her tongue and offered a smile instead. "No problem, it was a pleasure meeting you Mrs. Williams." She extended her hand for Tommy and he shook it carefully. "You get to feeling better, Tommy."

Kaoru walked to room one and read the chart of her next patient. It was going to be a long day. Luckily her next patient was an easy fix. Apparently he had an allergic reaction to a certain kind of soap and it had led to the development of a terrible itchy rash. He looked at her as if she were a genius when she suggested that he discontinue the use of the offending soap. After a tube of anti-histamine cream to stop the itch he began to call her a goddess.

Time seemed to fly by and lunch arrived unexpectedly. Kaoru was about to ask for her next patient when she noticed that there were no more. She gathered her small lunch and went out the gazebo to enjoy some solitude.

"Kaoru!"

She looked to see Yahiko running towards her. He stepped into the gazebo with her and eyed her lunch with disdain. "That looks pretty gross," he commented. Kaoru took a defensive bite out of her pimento cheese sandwich and didn't comment. "I brought you a picture of my fiancée."

The picture revealed a Yahiko with unruly hair standing beside a lovely young woman with a bright blush on her cheeks. "She's bashful," Yahiko explained.

"You two look very nice together."

Yahiko gave the picture one last glance before tucking it back inside his jacket and taking out his own lunch bag and sitting beside Kaoru. He handed her an apple. "Here, at least this way I know you're eating something edible." He snickered when Kaoru yanked it out of his hand and took a large bite out of it. "So, I hear you met Mrs. Williams."

"I met Tommy. Mrs. Williams seemed nice enough," Kaoru corrected. She almost asked if he knew why Megumi and Mrs. Williams seemed to hate each other.

Yahiko was watching her closely. "Why don't you ask?"

"Excuse me?"

He rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll tell you anyway. Carol Williams got pregnant with Tommy when she was in high school. She and Lt. Williams got married when they were juniors because he didn't want to have a son grow up without a father. The Lt. joined the Army and now the whole family is here."

"What does this have to do with Megumi?" Kaoru asked biting into her sandwich again.

Yahiko looked over the lifeless landscape, making sure they were alone before he continued. "You see, Megumi was in a similar situation. When she was in high school she had been dating my cousin, Bill." Yahiko leaned closer. "My cousin wasn't the best of guys when he was a teenager."

"Okay," Kaoru answered, this time taking a bite from the apple.

"Bill was seeing two women. Megumi and him went to the same high school and were sweet hearts. But, he cheated on her one weekend while they were in high school and got the girl pregnant. He married that girl."

Kaoru gasped. "Poor Megumi!"

Yahiko nodded. "I told you my cousin wasn't a nice guy. However, he's a good guy now. He and Gabby have been married for twelve years now and have three lovely children. But, you can probably understand why Megumi doesn't care for Caroline."

"Because she sees the situation too similar to her own?"

"Exactly."

Kaoru thought about the situation but then decided she wasn't about to feel sorry for Megumi. Carol's relationship with her husband had nothing to do with what happened to Megumi and her highschool sweet heart. "Well then she should be more considerate of other people."

"Huh?"

"Her boyfriend just walked in on me this morning while I was taking a shower!"

Yahiko snickered. "Katsu?" He shook his head at her. "If you thought Sano was bad, he's nothing compared to Katsu." Kaoru's face was growing red. "Don't worry though; he's a good guy under it all."

**oooooOOOOOooooo**

"I'm telling you Sano, that girl could be in Hollywood." Katsu kicked his feet up on the chair across from him as he continued to smoke on his cigarette.

"The missy?" Sano asked carefully. He had thought the story was funny when his best friend told him about walking in on Megumi's new roommate. At least it was funny until he realized he was talking about Kaoru.

"You said she was pretty and a heck of a kisser, but that does little justice when you see the whole package." Katsu's green eyes twinkled mischievously. "And then when she put the shower curtain around her and it just molded to her curves. It was all I could do not to jump right in with her and help with all those…hard to reach places, you know?"

"Yeah," Sano replied quietly. Usually he'd laugh his head right off when Katsu would tell him such a story. This time he was having the uncomfortable feeling of annoyance and even anger at his friend. He barely knew Kaoru, but he was feeling somewhat protective of her. "How about you not walk in on her when she's taking a shower?"

"What's wrong?" Katsu asked, no longer laughing. Sano was cracking his knuckles, just like he did before he proceeded to bash someone's brains in.

"Nothing, just, don't mess with Kaoru, huh?"

"Fine," Katsu agreed. He gave Sano a wicked grin. "I'll leave her for you. Besides, Megumi is almost more than I can handle as it is."

"Yeah, I bet," Sano answered gloomily. He rose to his feet and ignored the pain in his ribs. "I got to go. That warlord Saitou is keeping me busy."

Sano was walking towards the mess hall to see if he could help with the clean up. Another couple of weeks and he'd be back to active duty. He really didn't care for the busy work he was doing in the meantime. On his way he ran into Captain Yukishiro.

"Sano."

"Enishi."

"What are you doing?" Enishi asked glancing at his watch. Of all people he could run into he wouldn't expect Sano to be one of them.

"Just going to the mess hall," Sano said.

Enishi's brow rose. "Why are you heading towards the clinic then?"

"It's none of your business." Sano tried to hide his own surprise. It seemed his subconscious mind had bested him.

Enishi crossed his arms over his chest. He wasn't about to let Sano pass by so easily. "What do you think of that new doctor?"

Sano shrugged carelessly. "She's all right."

"I guess. I don't trust her though," Enishi said with a scowl.

"Why not?"

"Something about her bothers me. And she's hiding something," Enishi answered cryptically.

"Have you asked her what she's hiding?" Sano asked, interested in the topic.

"I haven't talked to her." Enishi narrowed his dark eyes. "Well I have, but not about her."

"What about then?"

"She tried to convince me to get the influenza vaccine," Enishi said. Sano gave him a blank look. "She's trying to get me sick so that I have to come and see her. It is quite obvious."

"She's supposed to recommend that everyone get the flu shot," Sano informed him. "Even I know that," he explained with a self-deprecatory smile.

"You shouldn't put so much faith in her." Enishi walked past him, leaving Sano to stare after him in bewilderment. Why was Enishi even in the clinic? Sano took a deep breath and continued on his way towards the clinic, having realized he passed up the mess hall several minutes before.

Kaoru was just leaving the clinic when she and Sano ran smack into one another—a bad habit she seemed to be developing. "Sano, what are you doing here? Did I hurt you?" Immediately her fingers reached out to touch his ribs.

Sano reached down to trap her fingers against his ribs. "I'm fine. You've a magic touch, missy." He grinned at her, feeling ridiculously pleased with himself when she blushed. "I just ran into Captain Yukishiro."

Kaoru pulled her fingers away and let out a frustrated sigh. "That man is insufferable. It was as if he came to check out the clinic today only to criticize." Her sapphire blue eyes grew dark for a moment. "I take that back, he came to the clinic to criticize me and flirt with all the nurses."

"Oh?" Sano was interested in this line of conversation. He had never heard of Enishi flirting around any of the nurses before and he had known the man for a few months now. He thought he might have been asexual or something kind of like one of those amoeba things. "Any one in particular?"

"Only the stupid nurse. I swear Sano, this LV is a total airhead. She is almost pretty in that blond-bimbo sort of way. Of all the people to be attracted to though! I wouldn't have cared if it had been one of the intelligent staff, but no! He seemed to pick the only person on the staff that annoys me to death! She mixes up the charts and I can't trust her with any vaccines. She'd probably give my patients the Ebola virus and then apologize with that annoying giggle of hers."

Sano stifled his laugh. It was almost comical to see Kaoru so riled up. Her face was flushed with anger and he could practically see steam coming from her ears. "Maybe she has better qualities elsewhere."

Kaoru shot him a cold look. "I'll bet." She grabbed hold of Sano's wrist and pulled him alongside her down the hall. "I need you to help me install a lock on my bathroom door. Some man just walked in this morning when I was taking my shower. Something serious could have happened!"

Sano chose not to mention that he had heard about this story already. It would be better if Kaoru didn't know the man in question was his best friend. "All right, we'll swing by the hardware store on base first then."

"I wish I could fire that nurse. She's so incompetent. And honestly, who names their child Bambi!" Kaoru continued to whisper to him vehemently, making certain she wasn't overheard. She didn't need to be the source of any gossip. "And that stupid Captain, when I told him he should get the flu vaccine while he was there he looked as if I had accosted him!"

Sano couldn't help but laugh at that moment. "To answer the first question, maybe her parents liked the Disney cartoon." He pulled his hand out of Kaoru's grasp and slipped his arm around her shoulders and pressed her to his side affectionately, ignoring the brief stab of pain. "Don't worry missy, hopefully he'll get the flu and when he goes to get the medicine to make it go away faster Bambi will accidentally give him the Ebola virus." Kaoru snorted at the idea and Sano grinned broadly.

An hour later, Kaoru and Sano were sitting in front of her bathroom door installing the brand new lock. Sano put aside the drill and tried the lock. "No more unwelcome guests," he assured her.

"Thank God," Kaoru breathed, smoothing back her hair. She smiled at Sano. "Thanks, you're now my hero."

Sano wiggled his brows. "Really? Can I get the hero's reward?"

Kaoru rolled her eyes, but played along. She linked her fingers together and raised her hands to her chin while leaning towards him and batting her lashes. "My hero!" she cooed dramatically before giving Sano a quick kiss on the lips.

Sano gave her a cocky grin. "Being heroic certainly does have its perks."

Kaoru stood up and offered her hand to help him to his feet. "Let's order pizza, my treat."

Sano glanced towards the den, not sure that would be a good idea. "What about your roommate and her boyfriend?"

Kaoru pointed towards the television on her dresser and the large queen sized bed in the middle of the room. "We can hang out in here."

"Really?" Sano smiled seductively at her. Kaoru hit him hard on the shoulder and he yelped in pain at her strength. "I'm just playing, missy! I decided to be heroic, remember?"

"Just remember that," Kaoru warned, biting her lip trying to ignore the concern she felt for hitting him. She gave up. "Are you okay?"

Sano burst out laughing as she lost her inner battle. "Kaoru you need someone to look out for you, you're too soft."

While Kaoru was calling in the pizza he wandered around her room. There were very few personal affects and even fewer framed photos. One was of her and a woman that looked very similar but with green eyes, hair a few shades darker, and a couple of inches shorter. "Must be her sister," he surmised when he read the design on the frame saying 'Sisters.' It was the other two pictures that especially caught his attention.

One seemed a few years old and looked like a college graduation picture of Kaoru and a tall man with pale blue eyes and dark hair. The man had his arm around Kaoru's shoulder and her arm was wrapped around his waist. He was smiling down at Kaoru and she was grinning up at him, it looked as if they had just shared a secret with one another and someone had shot the photo without them being aware. It was a beautiful picture really.

It was the third picture that really drew his attention though. It was of Kaoru and the same young man again. This time they were at the beach and Kaoru was sitting on the man's broad shoulders in the waves. Both were laughing and wearing nothing but their swim suits—he a pair of dark blue trunks and she string bikini of the same shade.

When Kaoru returned to her room to inform him that the pizza was on its way she saw him holding the third picture with an odd expression on his face. "Sano?"

He turned towards her. "Who's this?"

**oooooOOOOOooooo**

Enishi put aside the medical book. How dare that Kamiya woman try to talk to him as if she knew more than him about medicine! He knew perfectly well how the influenza vaccine worked. It wasn't for certain that the strain in the vaccine would be the circulating strain. He knew it was a dead vaccine. He knew that the flu mist taken intranasal was the live vaccine.

He did go to medical school after all.

It was typical for doctors to think they knew everything. It was part of that god complex that had resulted in his sister's current state. She was practically a vegetable. She had so many dreams and they were all crushed because of one fall.

All her aspirations were ruined.

He wouldn't be responsible for extinguishing the hope in someone like her doctors had. They had told her that she would never walk again or have a normal life. They practically told her to give up and die.

But she didn't die.

She wasn't really alive either though and he knew it.

He was glad that he'd be flying out again the next day. He needed to get away from the base. Perhaps he should have chosen a different field. He was torturing himself by working so closely with the medical personnel. It was his own way of punishing himself for not being able to help his sister.

The one time she needed him he wasn't there. If he had been visiting her that weekend like she had asked she probably wouldn't have fallen. But he was on his surgery rotation and he couldn't miss a day of that for her.

Enishi also hadn't thought that of all the cases he would be scrubbing in on that his sister's own trauma would have been one of them. He didn't tell anyone that it was his sister. They didn't have the same last name, why would they think it was his sister?

He did everything he was told to do during the surgery. He had even mentioned to the surgeon one of the new procedures he had just read about. The surgeon hadn't listened to him. He told him to scrub out for interrupting his train of thought, but the first assist had told him to stay.

If he had been silent then perhaps the surgeon and first assist would have worked together better. If the team work had been better then perhaps his sister would have recovered.

His phone rang, breaking him out of his bitter memories. He looked at the caller ID and ignored it. He shouldn't have gone to the clinic. And of all the women to choose, Bambi was the poorest choice. He knew she had a thing for him and it wasn't hard to use her as an excuse to watch Kamiya in action.

The woman really was rather efficient. The children seemed to cling to her, abandoning their parents in favor of the doctor. He would have thought such behavior would have annoyed the parents but instead they looked relieved. It was as if she knew exactly how to make everyone comfortable.

Bambi had told him how popular she already was. Patients were requesting to change their appointments from the other doctors so that they could see her instead. She saw nearly three times as many patients as the other two doctors and yet she still managed to spend more time with each patient one-on-one. He tried to ignore the respect he felt toward her for giving up her lunch hour and going to work an hour earlier and staying an hour later in order to meet her patient demand.

Bambi was his excuse to be there. He wasn't spying on Kamiya. She just was interesting. In her he was reminded of the reasons he originally wanted to go into medicine. It was to provide hope in people who needed it.

He listened as Bambi left her message for him and turned over on his couch. He buried his head under his pillow and groaned. He couldn't wait to be sent out on his next mission. Maybe he'd get to blow something up?


	4. Chapter 4

**Battle Front: Chapter 4**

Kaoru was sitting on the couch in her den with the dvd player remote in one hand and a box of tissues in the other. The final scene of _Casablanca_ had just finished. "Boo!" she hissed, tossing a wet tissue towards the television screen. "Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow," she echoed in derision. The conversation was uncannily familiar to the last one she had with Aoshi.

There was a loud knock at her front door. "Come in," she called, not bothering to get up. It was her day off and she wasn't about to use any more energy than she had to spend. Saturdays were for sitting on the couch watching old movies and wearing your pajamas.

"Hey Missy, what time did you crawl out of bed?" Sano asked, standing behind the couch and playfully musing Kaoru's unruly unbrushed hair.

"Have you ever seen this movie?" Kaoru asked, not taking her eyes off the closing credits and shaking her head in disgust.

Sano turned his attention to the screen and frowned. "No, but everyone knows about the ending. 'Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow but someday…'"

"That's so stupid!" Kaoru cried, throwing another tissue at the insulting movie screen. She finally looked up at Sano and gasped. "My, don't you look particularly handsome," she complimented, eyeing his remarkably well dressed persona. He looked ready for a night at the clubs and impressing many women. "What fancy designer dressed you?"

Sano gave a nervous laugh. "Actually, Katsu's sister helped me pick this out last time I was on leave. I don't really have any family other than his."

"You look great!" Kaoru smiled at him reassuringly. "You're going to break some hearts tonight!"

"Not with you looking like that," Sanosuke argued.

"Excuse me?" Kaoru asked, looking down at her silky red pants and over-sized black t-shirt. "What do my pajamas have to do with you're looking sexy as all get out?"

"I need a hot young lady, such as yourself, on my arm, to complete the ensemble."

"Oh No!" Kaoru shook her head and turned off the dvd. "I'm not going anywhere. It's my day off and I'm not doing anything at all!"

"Correction. The day is over and now it's the night and you're going out with me." Sano leaned down and picked up Kaoru, thankful that his ribs had mended some, though still not at full strength. "Don't struggle, you'll only hurt me," he warned when she started to squirm.

Kaoru sighed in exacerbation. "Why? Why do you want me to come? Can't you ask some other girl?"

"Sure, but I'm not going to for many reasons. One, you need out of the house. Two, I'd like to see you dressed up. Three, if I hurt myself you can fix me. And most importantly, you're the one I asked," Sano explained as he tossed her onto her bed. He then opened her closet.

"You're going to pick out my clothes?"

Sano shook his head and continued staring at the closet. "I was going to, but I just remembered I know very little about clothing." He smiled at her. "That's why I joined the military. You just wear the uniform."

Kaoru burst out loud laughing. "Get out; I'll be ready in half an hour, okay?"

"Sounds good," Sano answered on his way to the kitchen to raid her refrigerator.

Half an hour later, Kaoru walked into her kitchen to find Sano washing his hands at the sink. "I didn't even make any stains," he told her proudly without looking up. When she didn't respond he glanced at her and whistled. "You look gorgeous." He dried his hands on his pants leg, causing Kaoru to sigh. "Let's go," he said taking her arm.

They were halfway down the hall before Kaoru got him to slow down. "Could you explain exactly where it is we are going all dressed up?"

"You've known me a week, do I ever explain?"

"Only if you don't want any more injury done to your ribs."

"Point taken. Once a month they set up this deal where they have a casino and a dance hall and bar open for all the soldiers. They don't want a bunch of drunken morons on duty so that's why it's only once a month."

"I see, so who else is going to be there?"

Sano shrugged. "Probably everyone."

**oooooOOOOOooooo**

"You're making wonderful progress, honey," Kenshin told his wife over breakfast, early Sunday morning.

Tomoe looked at him, one eye focused upon his features as she concentrated on placing one spoonful at a time of warm porridge into her mouth. Carefully, she placed the spoon on the napkin. "Thank you," she replied softly.

Kenshin shifted uncomfortably. His wife's therapist, Misao, might have encouraged his ultimatum but he was regretting it by the minute. He didn't like being seen as harsh. He would never leave his wife willingly. Only death could separate them. And he even doubted that.

"Have you heard from Enishi lately?" Kenshin inquired. It seemed now-a-days that the only thing that brought the light of joy into her eyes was the mention of her younger brother.

"Not—" she took a deep breath, "—for a few days." The silence seemed to drag on between them. "Do you miss it?" she asked.

Kenshin blinked at her in surprise. "Pardon? Do I miss what?"

"Working for the government? Doing all those secret missions for the military?" Tomoe asked.

Kenshin stirred his cup of hot tea. He had been keeping so many secrets from his beloved wife. The main secret being that he worked now as a consultant for the military, a non-active operative. "I prefer being with you."

"That is not what I asked," Tomoe said quietly to herself as Kenshin rose from the table to wash his cup.

**oooooOOOOOooooo**

"So, we're really here so that Megumi can see what she's missing out by seeing your best friend and not you?" Kaoru clarified.

Sano shrugged. "Maybe you're my best friend and I wanted to take you out on a night on the town?" he asked, squeezing her bare shoulder, as the silk wrap she wore covered her chest and was held together at the neck and back by a thin strap.

"Sorry, handsome, but the position of Kaoru Kamiya's best friend is already filled by one tall, dark, handsome, blue eyed man named Aoshi." She met his gaze with a twinkle in her eyes. "We'll have to be each other's runner-ups, okay?"

Sano gave a hearty laugh at that and tucked her closer against his side. They showed their military identifications and were allowed into the club free of charge. "Unfortunately, the drinks aren't free," Sano complained when the first waitress came up to him.

"Alcohol is bad for your liver anyway," Kaoru protested, knowing that Sano was almost always strapped for cash due to his chronic gambling habits. It seemed that the monthly club was no longer willing to add to his ever growing tab, seeing as it was never going to be paid.

Kaoru began looking around the crowded room. She saw no sign of Yahiko. She did however notice Megumi and Katsu wrapped around each other like a red and white candy cane. She hoped that Sano didn't notice that. "I don't see Yahiko."

"He's not twenty-one," Sano answered absently, his attention focused exactly where Kaoru didn't want him to look. "Come on," he told her gruffly as he headed straight in that direction.

"Sano my man!" Katsu greeted with a high five, ignoring Megumi completely once his best friend arrived. He looked Kaoru up and down with a large grin. "You look gorgeous! However, I do think the shower curtain looked best on you," he said mischievously.

"How about we not talk about that," Megumi interrupted obviously annoyed. She looked Sano over and gave a prim nod at his attire. "You look handsome," she grudgingly admitted.

"Thanks," Sano answered, snuggling Kaoru closer to his side, leaning down and kissing her playfully on the shoulder. "I think Dr. Kamiya looks nicer but that's just me."

"Indeed," Megumi agreed giving Kaoru a cold look. She had become more aloof and frigid towards Kaoru as the week progressed and more patients began to seek Kaoru over Megumi. She was hardly home now, avoiding her in the apartment that they shared. It certainly made life difficult considering she spent her time at Katsu's now.

"You look very lovely, Megumi," Kaoru offered honestly. Megumi merely raised her brow, took Katsu by the hand, and led him to the dance floor.

"That certainly went well," Kaoru muttered.

Sano watched after Megumi longingly before he caught himself, shook his head, and refocused on Kaoru. "Reason number five for asking you, if the plan fails you're still one hot momma to spend the night dancing with!" He took her in his arms and spun her in a quick circle, leading her onto the dance floor.

**oooooOOOOOooooo**

It had been several days since he last saw her. To say he was surprised to see her at the club was an understatement. She didn't seem like the club-going type. Of course, he wasn't the club going type either, but he didn't have a choice. Bambi certainly was and the only way to shut her up was to agree to come. His answering machine couldn't handle any more messages.

"Oh come on, Enishi, you just got back. I haven't seen you in days!" Bambi whined playfully, rubbing up against Enishi in the crowded club. It should have been illegal to wear as little as she was currently donning. "Won't you at least dance once? Pretty please?"

Enishi looked down at her, disgusted that he had gotten himself into this mess to begin with. All he wanted was an excuse to find out the office gossip regarding Kamiya. He should have chosen another way as spying simply didn't seem to be his strong point. Loosely, he draped his arm around her shoulder, inwardly revolted by the fact that he would have to have his shirt burned in order to get the scent of her cheap perfume off it.

He watched Kamiya and Sagara on the dance floor. They should be ashamed of themselves. Actually, he was impressed by the skill they were showing—unlike most couples they weren't 'booty' dancing but actually rotating between Jitter-bug and Salsa. It was obvious that they had both taken lessons. He was annoyed by his interest in her. There was only one way to thwart such an unwise curiosity.

He would wait for the right opportunity. It came soon enough. Kamiya and Sagara soon took their leave of the dance floor much to the disappointment of the crowd. They took up a pair of stools at the bar and had a couple of waters to quench their thirst.

"Hey Captain," Sano called out at Enishi in greeting. Begrudgingly, Enishi nodded in greeting back. "Did you see us out there?"

"Yes," Enishi answered coolly. He looked directly at Kamiya, dark eyes showing over the brim of his ever present blue shades. He then turned to Bambi at his side and kissed her on the cheek before turning away from Sagara and Kamiya. "There are no other females here worth looking at," he confided in Bambi.

"Take Dr. Kamiya for example," this comment drew both Kaoru and Sanosuke's attention. "She looks more like a scrawny twelve year old boy than a real woman. What is she thinking wearing something like that?"

Kaoru's hands had balled into fists at the insult and her eyes watered in anger and hurt. However, tears never had a chance to spill. Sano pulled her into his arms and gave her an earth shattering kiss leaving her breathless and flushed.

Enishi's eyes grew darker.

Sano grinned like a Cheshire cat. "Woah! Definitely not a little boy," he said. "Let's get going Kaoru, I don't want to hang around a fool that can't recognize a good woman when he sees her. It's not something contagious, is it?"

"No, I don't think stupidity is contagious," Kaoru affirmed, having gathered her wits. She didn't even turn to look at Enishi as she and Sanosuke left the club.

Enishi watched them leave in disbelief. His plan had totally and utterly failed. Or had it? He wasn't sure exactly why he felt it important to be cruel to Kamiya. She had done nothing to him personally. But she represented a dream he had crushed. He felt Bambi tugging at his arm.

"Can we go on the dance floor now? This woman would like to get to know your man much better?" she flirted.

It was kharma. "No." He gestured towards his co-pilot on the last mission. "Ask Frank, he's a good dancer." Bambi gave him a disappointed look, glanced over towards Frank, who was a gorgeous man of Italian descent and happily skipped over towards him.

Enishi shook his head. Maybe it would be better if he simply went on a mission and didn't come back. Everyone would certainly be happier.

**oooooOOOOOooooo**

The walk back to Kaoru's apartment was silent. Sano was invited inside and they turned on the television, sitting in silence, watching a show in a language they didn't know. "I can't believe he would say such a thing," Kaoru finally said the question on her mind.

"I don't understand it either," Sano agreed. He was becoming mesmerized by the animated figures on the screen. He had no idea what they were saying, but they sounded pretty enthusiastic! "I mean, you're gorgeous, no doubt. But I don't know why he's purposely trying to tick you off."

"Maybe I remind him of someone he doesn't like."

If only she knew that person she reminded Enishi of was himself when he was younger and more enthusiastic.

"So what do you think Megumi's reaction will be?"

"She's probably going to hate me more too," Kaoru answered.

"Nah, but maybe she'll see what a good piece of meat she's missing out on!"

Kaoru raised her dark brow. "You're referring to yourself as meat?"

Sano shrugged, not really holding interest in the conversation since the cartoon characters began their battle scene. There was a knock on the door. Naturally, Kaoru was too lazy to get up off the couch and invited the visitor inside.

"If I was a vampire you'd be in for a big mess by inviting me inside like this," Yahiko admonished.

"Yahiko!" Kaoru cried happily upon seeing her friend. "We missed you tonight!"

Yahiko looked at their outfits. "I doubt it," he said with a laugh. He waved an envelope in his hand. "While you guys were dancing the night away I had mail duty. This," he said gesturing towards the off-white envelope. "Is for you."

"Who is it from?" Kaoru asked.

"Some Shinomori guy," Yahiko answered. Kaoru immediately jumped up, her shirt flying.

"Kaoru! Be careful with those things!" Sano complained, wrapping his hands around her waist to prevent her from sailing over the couch onto Yahiko.

"Oh is Shinomori important?" Yahiko teased, holding the envelope out of reach. Kaoru tried to get past Sano, but he held her firmly, making sure she didn't block his view of the television. "Maybe I should read it to you."

"Give me that!" Kaoru yelled, tipping over the couch with both herself and Sano falling onto the floor. She then tackled Yahiko's feet, ignoring Sano's cry of pain on the brutal landing and the job it did to his ribs.

She took the envelope and held it to her chest, breathing a sigh of relief. Even the sight of his handwriting calmed her.

"So, I guess he's someone important then," Yahiko muttered.


	5. Chapter 5

**Battle Front: Chapter 5 **

_Dearest Kaoru,_

_I'm unsure of how to start off a letter to you. I wish I could call and hear your lovely voice, but that is a luxury I do not have. So my poor penmanship and vocabulary skills will have to suffice. I miss our drafty house and holding each other through the night with neurology textbooks at the foot of the bed. I miss waking up with those annoying rays of sunshine streaming through the window at the head of the bed. We both would tend to hit the snooze over and over so the sun was the only sure way of waking. I actually have to get up with my alarm clock now as there is little light in my current bunkroom. _

_Yes, I said bunkroom. I do not even have my own room. I have to share with three other men and I must inform you that you are by far superior to them. I'm not so sure that this separation thing was a good idea. The medical part of this has been good. I believe that dealing with trauma is my forte. The fighting where you are at is not as severe as it is here. What sort of cases are you having? Do you get to see actual families on your base? I keep seeing young men coming in with an appendage lost or terribly disfiguring scars. It is depressing. I'm saving their immediate lives, but they will live with the results of these battles forever. _

_It is very ugly here Kaoru and I wish every morning when I wake up that I had you beside me. You would be the shining light in a cave of darkness. Soujiro will be transferring to your base soon. I am exceedingly jealous of him. I almost requested a transfer myself, but that would be selfish on so many levels. I know I'm needed here. I would ask if you would come here, but I couldn't stand for you to be in this hot zone. _

_Know that all my happy thoughts are of you. Meet me under the stars so that I can at least think we are together for a moment._

_Love Always, Aoshi Shinomori_

Kaoru had tears coming from her eyes as she finished reading Aoshi's letter. She went to her closet and changed her outfit to a simple hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans, and a pair of her combat boots that she hoped she would never have to wear. She tucked her long hair up inside a baseball cap and hurried outside, his letter clutched protectively against her chest.

She went to the gazebo automatically, relieved that she had seen no one else there. The sky was beautiful she would give the desert that small praise. As she stared at the stars she came to a very somber realization. She did not know any of these constellations. They were not the same ones that she and Aoshi had learned together back in college.

Kaoru would have to discover the names of these stars all by herself.

Her peaceful star-gazing was interrupted by the arrival of a pair of boots crunching on the rocks leading to the gazebo. She ignored the approaching person, hoping whoever it was would take the hint and leave. The person the boots belonged to ignored the hint and sat across from her.

She very nearly growled when she identified her intruder. "Don't you think you've done enough damage for one night?" She stood and made to leave, the stars could be seen from her bedroom window.

Enishi had been outside and had seen Kaoru as she headed for the gazebo. She was clutching a letter and her lips had been curved into a smile. He became curious as to what could have made her so happy so quickly. It was obviously related to her letter. He had felt like a jerk ever since his untrue and hurtful comment. As much as he hated to admit it, she was delicate and he shouldn't assume that she represented all his grievances with society.

Maybe her caring disposition was genuine and not an act.

"I came to apologize," he said ignoring her barb.

She glared down at him and nodded her head firmly. "Fine," she answered, acknowledging his apology but neither accepting nor rejecting it. She made to walk past him but he stopped her by grasping her wrist. He wasn't wearing his blue shades and his dark eyes bore into hers. "It is hard enough being out here all alone; I don't need your added hostility."

Enishi did not release her wrist but he did loosen his grip. "I know." He didn't know what to say. He had already apologized and she had not accepted. He wasn't sure that he could stop his hostility. It seemed to be rooted into his behavior. She represented his disillusioned past. His lashing out on her was his means of lashing out against himself for failing his sister. He couldn't explain this to her though. He wanted to ask about the letter. He wanted to ask what had caused her to come out and stare at the sky with such a peaceful expression.

He wanted to find that peace. He released her wrist but held her eyes captive. "If you'd like, I could teach you the constellations here," he offered.

If anyone else had made the offer she would have readily agreed. "No thanks," she said walking away.

**oooooOOOOOooooo**

"Must you always have that expression?" Soujiro asked, pulling back his spoon and sending a stream of spaghetti noodles towards his silent companion's face.

Aoshi ducked just in time for the noodles to fly over his shoulder and land in a messy plop on the floor behind him. He narrowed his eyes coldly at Kaoru's future brother-in-law. "You are lucky I am under orders to allow you to live," he spoke quietly and threateningly.

Soujiro continued to grin at the straight-laced resident. "That's why I'm smiling," he answered flippantly, pulling back his spoon for another attack. However, when Aoshi picked up the knife on his plate he quickly shoved the spoon into his mouth. "Mmm good," he remarked, relaxing when Aoshi set his knife down.

Aoshi huffed out an annoyed breath through his nostrils and searched the mess hall in earnest. His fingers began to impatiently drum along the metallic dining table.

"What exactly are you looking for?" Soujiro asked, trying to follow Aoshi's gaze. He was unable to see anything of interest. He did happen to see the mail-call officer, but other than him, no one was mildly interesting. When Aoshi failed to answer he continued. "If you're waiting for Kaoru's response," he started, satisfied to see his friend's eyes snap back towards him. "It's too soon. Even if she wrote you back immediately it would take weeks to get here."

"I'm not waiting around for her to write me." Aoshi picked his knife back up and began to slice the remainder of his mystery meat into perfectly equal squares. His knife paused mid-slice when the post-man approached their table.

"Lieutenant Seta, I have a letter for you," the post-man announced, brandishing a letter with the familiar, flowing script of Kaoru's younger sister. Aoshi couldn't begin to count the number of times he had seen a letter with her handwriting, all addressed to Kaoru of course. Seeing that Sourjiro had received a letter and he had not caused a deep fire of anger to burn in his belly.

Soujiro took a nervous sip of water from his glass. Aoshi was angry, he could tell. There were no visual clues as to this fact, but he knew. It felt as if the very air he was breathing had boiled over with the man's rage. "Perhaps she has news of Kaoru," he offered.

Aoshi allowed some of the tension to melt from his shoulders. "Why don't you read it then?" His dangerous tone reflected the fact that it was not a request, but a thinly veiled order.

Soujiro read over the rushed script of his fiancée. Her handwriting on the outer envelop hardly matched that of the letter's contents. The envelope's details were written with painstaking care where as the letter was a mess of jumbled thoughts. The woman was scatterbrained and her letters surely reflected it.

He glanced up a quarter of the way through to see Aoshi staring at him intently. He shifted in his seat. "I'm not going to read it aloud." Pale blue-green eyes flashed dangerously at him. "All it says is that she hasn't heard from Kaoru yet and wonders how she is doing. She also wonders how you are and whether you miss her sister or not. Misao also thinks you're stupid for breaking up with Kaoru."

"I did not break up with Kaoru," Aoshi enunciated quietly in a threatening tone.

"Right, you're on a break," Soujiro agreed not wanting any more trouble. "The rest of the letter is about a patient of hers that she's been working with for a long time. It's a stroke victim who has been making remarkable progress lately all because of her positive attitude." Soujiro glanced at Aoshi over the top of the letter. "You could use an attitude adjustment."

"If you wish to retain your teeth for your pasted-on annoying smile I recommend you make no more suggestions to me."

"I could take you," Soujiro told him folding up his letter and placing it calmly on the table. He looked Aoshi up and down, assessing him.

Before Aoshi could accept the invitation of challenge another siren went off. Both men frowned at the familiar sound. It meant there was another raid and more men would be lost. "Do not get killed," Aoshi warned.

"Of course I won't," Soujiro answered, as the two made their way towards the exit.

"That privilege is mine."


	6. Chapter 6

**Battle Front: Chapter 6**

Sano wrapped his hand around the chilled bottle of wine and began to pour it into the two long stemmed glasses on the coffee table. Kaoru sat beside him on the couch and using the remote to the mp3 player started some light rock. She leaned back on the couch, accepting the glass her friend offered while closing her eyes in relaxation.

Sanosuke leaned back as well, propping his feet onto the coffee table in front of him. "Ah, this is what I'm talking about." He sighed and then turned his head towards her while reaching over and clinking glasses together. "Here's to enjoying my last night of inactive duty in the company of a gorgeous woman." He wagged his eyebrows suggestively.

"Hear, hear," Kaoru agreed as she took a healthy sip of her wine. The two sat in relative silence, drinking casually while listening to the soft rock music. "Do you know what your assignment will be yet?"

"Yeah, but I can't talk about it," Sano joked as he stretched his arm across her shoulders casually. "It's one of those hush-hush top-secret type missions."

"I'll miss you," Kaoru confided, meeting his dark eyes with her bright blue ones. Sano grinned, reached up and ruffled her hair. "Hey! You can't go around and…"

Sano leaned over and kissed her quickly on the lips, silencing any further protests. Kaoru shoved him roughly in the chest, spilling some wine in the process. "Will you quit kissing me?"

The man with the wild hair smirked rakishly. "Dunno, you planning on turning ugly?"

Kaoru's nose scrunched at the suggestion. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly! As long as you look like that and as long as today might be my last I plan to take any opportunity to kiss pretty girls that come my way." Sanosuke lifted his glass and drained its contents.

"You need a girlfriend," Kaoru told him in a huff.

"Aw, Kao you ain't jealous because I said girls in the pleural are you?" His arm fell back over her shoulder and he leaned down, his lips brushing against the shell of her ear. "You're the only girl I've been kissing around base."

"That's only because Megumi won't give you the time of day," Kaoru retorted. The kitchen timer went off. Kaoru rolled her eyes, shoved his arm off her shoulder and stood up. "You're impossible!"

"Nah," Sano disagreed, reaching for the wine bottle and filling his glass again. "I believe the word you're searching for is irresistible." He watched her carefully over the rim of his glass as she walked back towards the kitchen to pull their dinner out of the oven. "So have you heard anything new from your doctor friend?"

Kaoru looked up over the counter at him, holding a dish towel to take the hot pan out of the oven. "Just that one letter, it takes too long for mail to come. I'm hoping when Soujiro comes he can catch me up on him."

"Any phone calls?"

Kaoru placed her hand on her hip, forgetting about the dinner still in the oven. "Now Sanosuke Sagara, why are you asking such questions?"

He stood up, and jumped over the backside of the couch to approach her. "I just want to make sure that when I come back you won't suddenly be engaged to someone. What will I do then for fun? I'll have to make some girl fall in love with me and then subsequently break her heart, all for the sake of keeping my kissing skills in tact! This arrangement I have going with you is so ideal!"

He ducked laughing as Kaoru threw the dish towel at him. He sniffed the air. "Is something burning?"

"Crud!" Kaoru opened the oven and reached for the hot pan, forgetting she wasn't using the towel as a buffer. "Dang it!" she shouted, snatching her hand away immediately. She turned on the faucet of the sink, putting her hand under cold water to sooth the burn.

"Are you okay?" Sano asked, standing behind her, wrapping his arms around her and trying to inspect her burn.

"Yes stupid!" Kaoru hissed frantically. "Get the food before it burns!"

"Oh!" Sano rushed towards the stove and pulled the pan out himself, also forgetting to use a towel or oven mitt. He cursed wildly as he set the pan on the stovetop.

Kaoru couldn't help it. She burst out laughing at her friend. She grabbed hold of his arm and tugged him toward the sink, sticking his hand under the cold water. "Not only did we both get burned, but our dinner is burned too!" She kicked the oven door shut and turned off the heat. She then walked into the bathroom and rummaged through the medicine cabinet for burn ointment. She brought it back into the kitchen. "Good thing I'm a trained professional and can patch us both up, no?"

"Good thing," Sano agreed. He looked over at their dinner with a pained expression. "How do you feel about ordering pizza? Again."

Kaoru shook her head sadly as she placed the ointment over her friend's burn. "We should have just started with the pizza in the beginning. Should have known we wouldn't be able to cook dinner without it getting burned."

"Yeah, I suppose the first ten times we tried to do that should have been our hint to give up, huh?"

**oooooOOOOOooooo**

He glanced at the various flying instruments on his dash. He was at 10, 000 feet and needed to descend quickly. The announcement over his radio expressed the dire situation and he really didn't need any more added pressures. It was his fifth time out to this area in the past four hours. The damage to the fighters was barely comprehensible to him. He loaded up his helicopter, took off, flew the injured to the base, and then returned to the scene of battle. Only this time, it wasn't his base; his assistance had been requested by emergency.

"Captain," his co-pilot pointed towards the landing pad that the most recent desert storm had obscured only moments before.

"I see it," Enishi informed him, not relying on visual clues as much as the mathematical ability of his instruments. He was used to flying blind; a little sandstorm was hardly going to prevent him from doing his duties. He landed the helicopter on the make-shift landing pad. He left the blades whirling and waited in the cockpit as more injured soldiers were placed in the back of his chopper.

The medic crawled into the helicopter and set up his patients. He walked to the front of the bird and tapped Enishi on the shoulder. "Captain Yukishiro, this is the last of your loads." Enishi gave a brief nod before redirecting his attention to his controls. He waited until he was given the signal that everyone on board was secured. Then he took off, heading back towards the base.

He was somewhat relieved that this would be his last trip of the day. He had already flown more hours that day than was actually allowed. He didn't mind. He would have gladly volunteered to fly the rest of the night. However, he knew that if he were to lose his concentration for even a minute that he could easily kill all those on board that had entrusted their lives in his flying skills.

Base came into view quickly. He landed the bird with ease and hopped out, intent on helping with the transportation of the injured men from the back of the helicopter to the medical unit. It was the first time he had been inside the facility. He was struck by the atmospheric difference between this facility and the one he was normally assigned. There was chaos here. There were so many injured men. Few of the injuries were light—certainly no four year olds with rhinorrhea. He surveyed the medical staff, trying to decide where his assistance might be most appreciated.

His dark eyes landed upon the form of a tall, young man whose white coat had been tossed aside. His dark blue scrubs had stains of fresh blood as he worked at suturing a rather ugly laceration on an unfortunate soldier. Enishi approached the doctor. "Might I be of assistance?"

The man briefly looked up to meet Enishi's eyes with his startling blue-green irises. "We have no more numbing anesthetics, so I'll need you to hold him down as I try to finish," he requested, his voice surprisingly quiet. Enishi gave a nod of his head, indicating his understanding. He ignored the moans of the man on the table, his attention falling upon the quick moving, dexterous hands of the doctor.

The doctor finished suturing the laceration and placed a warm hand on the soldier's shoulder. "You're going to be fine. The knife did not hit anything vital and you were given a Tetanus shot in case the metal was infected," he explained. "Do you have any questions?" he asked in his soft-spoken voice. The fact that he even bothered to ask the patient something like that shocked Enishi. With all the chaos in the room he certainly wouldn't have blamed the doctor for fixing this man then quickly moving on to the next injured soldier.

"Thank you, Dr. Shinomori," the soldier said with a ghost of a smile. "I'm sure I'll be playing baseball again in no-time, right?"

A barely perceivable smile lifted the corners of Aoshi's lips. "Indeed," he agreed. He then gestured to a nearby medical assistant that the solider was ready to be moved out of the trauma room. He quickly walked over to the sink and began to scrub his hands, preparing for his next case. Enishi walked alongside him, scrubbing as well.

"Thank you," Aoshi said, flinging the water off his hands and drying them with paper towels. He then squirted on fast drying alcohol to clean his hands further. He glanced at Enishi's uniform stripes and badges. "Captain," he acknowledged, not seeing the name tag.

"Captain Yukishiro," Enishi introduced.

"Aoshi Shinomori," the doctor replied in turn. He walked towards the next patient on his triaged list and began assessing the situation. He was seeing a great many victims of bombings that day. He quickly waved down another assistant and shoved the man's chart into her arms. "He needs to be taken to surgery immediately. Find Dr. Bombay." He used the quick alcoholic wash of his hands once more before moving on to the next patient. It was another laceration.

Enishi assisted him in the procedure. Aoshi injected some of the numbing anesthetic into the man's flesh. "I thought there was no more anesthetic."

"We can not spare more than one shot per patient," Aoshi explained. He placed on latex free surgeon gloves and threaded his needle while Enishi cleaned the wound of blood that kept obscuring his field of vision. "What base are you at normally, Captain?" he asked casually.

"I'm generally stationed at the Gamma base," Enishi answered, surprised when Aoshi looked up at him with wide eyes. The doctor looked as if he were about to ask him more upon the manner when the patient moaned.

"The anesthetic is wearing off," Aoshi mumbled, concentrating on his task.

Hours passed, and though the doctor's shift had ended he had continued to work diligently. Enishi had been so impressed that he continued to aid him on his procedures. Finally, things had calmed down and the young doctor was finally able to call it a night. Enishi walked alongside him towards the mess hall.

"You really did not have to help me," Aoshi said.

"It was no trouble," Enishi assured him. "Those men needed all the help they could get. I was able to help so why wouldn't I have stayed?"

Aoshi didn't answer, but continued to lead the way to the mess hall. Enishi would be leaving in an hour to return to Gamma base soon. He had refused to stay over-night, but did consent to eating before he left. The superior officer at the base had ordered him to eat so his acceptance of the invitation might have been swayed by that minor detail. Aoshi and Enishi sat across from one another after receiving their meal. "Tell me about Gamma," Aoshi said.

Enishi didn't take well to demands, but decided it would be easy enough to answer the request. "The fighting in that area is minimal compared to here," he began.

"Good," Aoshi muttered, slicing his meat with the precision he showed in his procedures earlier.

Enishi frowned at being interrupted. "The medical personnel are not nearly as adept as the personnel here." That comment earned a dark look from the doctor, piquing Enishi's interest. "I seriously doubt that if something more serious than a runny nose came into that department that the patient would be doomed." No doubt about it, that comment caused the man in front of him to narrow his eyes dangerously. "You don't happen to know anyone there?"

Aoshi didn't answer his question. "You exaggerate."

Enishi shrugged. "Somewhat. There are a couple of doctors there that are rather competent," he begrudgingly admitted, thinking of the two female physicians.

"It is good that the fighting is not as intense there," Aoshi said after several minutes of silence had fallen over the pair as they finished their meal. He stood abruptly when his pager went off. "It was good to work with you. May you have a safe trip."

Enishi watched as the talented physician walked away. Something was certainly odd about the whole business between that doctor and his interest in Gamma. He shrugged, standing up and taking his tray to the receptacle. Perhaps it was just the behavior of a doctor defending his own.

**oooooOOOOOooooo**

Sanosuke ripped off the bandage from his hand, satisfied to see that his skin had not blistered. Kaoru knew how to take care of him, that was for sure. He tossed the wrappings in the trash before he knocked on Saitou's door. He walked inside, saluting his superior officer. His eyes flickered towards the small-statured man sitting in one of the two chairs across from Saitou's desk.

"Sit down Sagara," Saitou commanded gesturing to the vacant chair with his cigarette. "You're on active duty and I'm sending you out on a covert operation. Sagara, this is special agent Himura. He'll be the one leading this mission."

Sanosuke sat down on the empty leather chair and shook hands with the special agent. Internally, he wondered what exactly 'special agent' meant. Perhaps the red-head was some sort of spy.

"We will leave in the next half hour," Himura informed him. Sanosuke continued to stare at him wondering how come he didn't become a spy, being called special agent was much more exciting then being a Lieutenant or Captain. "It's a small operation utilizing a fifteen men team. I'll tell you what you need to know as you need to know it."

"O-kay," Sano said slowly. "That translates into you shoving me from the foxhole when the bullets fly and saying defend yourself, right?"

Himura grinned ever so slightly. "Something like that."

"All right, now get out of here. You're interfering with my smoking," Saitou called out when his phone began to ring. He waved the two away as he answered his phone. "Hello, Mr. President?"


	7. Chapter 7

**Battle Front: Chapter 7**

Kaoru felt like her lungs were ready to explode. She regretted having quit her daily jog months ago and was suffering the consequences as she tried to pick it back up. Sanosuke had been gone for a week and a half and Soujiro had still not arrived.

His transfer to Gamma base was at least a month delayed. Megumi had decided to move back into their apartment almost as soon as Sanosuke had left for his mission. However, the two women still didn't talk. Yahiko was the only person Kaoru could consider a friend on the base and it made for a lonely existence where the only thing she had to look forward to were letters from her sister and the hope of a letter from Aoshi.

The soles of her tennis shoes pounded upon the dusky trails near the base. The sun had not breached the horizon yet but its heat was starting to make its presence known. She was contemplating the decision whether or not to turn back and return to base when she heard someone running towards her. There was a brief moment of panic.

Had she run too far? Had enemy troops sought her out? Was she about to be murdered?

Or worse yet…

Was she about to be embarrassed for not being able to keep up with the rest of the Army men?

"I didn't know you ran in the mornings," Enishi greeting, pulling up beside her and matching his pace with hers.

Kaoru's brows knitted together in annoyance and she sped up, trying to leave him behind. He easily caught up. "Today's the first time; I decided to pick the habit back up."

"I usually run at this time, right before the masses of divisions go for their daily jog." Enishi ran smoothly alongside her, without so much as a drop of sweat. Kaoru glared at him, gasping for breath, and hated him at that moment—more than she usually did. "We could run together," he suggested.

"No thanks."

Enishi reached out and caught her upper arm and stopped her from running. She yanked her arm free from his grasp and placed her hands on her knees to catch her breath. "What?" she asked sharply.

"Look, I'm trying to make up for earlier, all right?"

"You already apologized," Kaoru bit back, face flushed in heat and anger.

""Yes and you didn't accept, I realize that. In case you didn't notice, we're in the middle of a war," Enishi continued. "It's certainly not safe for you to be running out here by yourself. It's not safe for any of us to run out alone," he added before she could protest.

Kaoru stood straight. "Fine. We can run together, just don't talk to me."

Enishi grinned at her, the action so surprising Kaoru felt like she had been punched in the stomach. He was actually handsome and almost looked friendly. "Don't worry, I know you need to conserve your breath for all the huffing and puffing you do while attempting your jog."

Kaoru glowered at him. "Jerk," she muttered. She took a deep breath and looked back in the direction of the base. It sure did seem like a long ways off now that she was so tired. Maybe she over did it this morning. "I need to head back."

"Patients to see?" Enishi asked as he started off in the direction towards the base with her. They went at a slow, leisurely pace for him and a grueling one for her.

"Day off actually," Kaoru said in a gasp. She flashed him a quick smile. "Need to head back now because it's probably going to take me a few hours!"

"I don't have a few hours, so if it gets to be too long I'll just pick you up and carry you," Enishi warned, pressing the pace a little.

Kaoru clenched her jaw in determination. She didn't need some man, must less that arrogant jerk, to carry her. She was perfectly capable of pulling her own weight. And if she wasn't, she'd rather die of heat exhaustion trying!

"I haven't seen your friend Sagara around lately," Enishi commented after they had run the distance of a mile.

Kaoru nodded silently, all her concentration focused on running and breathing. Enishi didn't speak to her for the duration of the run after that. They arrived at the base; he had just barely broken a sweat across his forehead whereas she was drenched in comparison. He looked her up and down and gave her shoulder a quick pat.

"Keep yourself hydrated," he advised before walking past her on his way to his quarters.

Kaoru narrowed her eyes at his retreating figure. "I'm the doctor," she muttered. She whirled around to march back to her apartment for a shower when she ran smack dab into a solid frame—again. A pair of cobalt blue eyes a few inches higher than hers greeted her. "Oh my God, Soujiro!" she screamed in excitement wrapping her arms around her future brother-in-law and hugging him.

Soujiro had braced himself for his overly-enthusiastic future sister-in-law so he didn't stumble back too far when she threw herself at him. He began to laugh as he returned her hug, ignoring the fact that she smelt of sweat and desert heat. "Been out running I see?"

Kaoru let go of him immediately with an apologetic expression. "I'm so sorry, I didn't even think about it." She frowned at the obvious wet stains she had pressed onto the front of his fatigues. "That was so gross of me."

Soujiro shook his head, a smile on his lips before he reached out and hugged Kaoru. "I don't care; a little sweat never hurt anyone. It could have been worse considering what you do for a living. I'm just glad it's not blood and guts." He kissed her cheek and held her out at arm's length. "It's really great to see you. You're a much lovelier sight than Aoshi."

"How is he?" Kaoru asked anxiously, her heart doing summersaults in her chest. "I"ve gotten one letter from him. Has he not been receiving the ones I've sent?"

Soujiro took Kaoru's arm in his own and began to walk with her down the hall. "Why don't you show me where you live, that way you can take a shower?"

OOOOOoooooOOOOO

Soujro had made himself at home on Kaoru's apartment couch, flipped on the television, and was watching the news. He quickly turned down the volume when a beautiful woman came out of the second bedroom with an annoyed expression. She looked at him and the annoyance melted into confusion.

"Who are you?"

Soujiro stood. "Lieutenant Sourjio Seta, it's a pleasure to meet you." He extended his hand towards her.

She reluctantly shook it. "Doctor Megumi Takani." She looked towards Kaoru's closed bedroom door. "You're a friend of Kaoru's?"

Soujiro smiled invitingly at her. "More than friends, I'm her soon to be brother-in-law," he explained. "I'm the reason she chose this base to be stationed. I was supposed to be here a month ago, but things happen." He shrugged.

Megumi nodded in understanding. "Yes, things happen," she agreed. She gestured towards the kitchen. "Would you like some breakfast? I was just about to make an omelet for myself." She gestured towards Kaoru's closed door. "I don't believe she even knows how to turn on the oven."

"She can turn it on, its turning it off that is the problem," he confided with a wink.

Kaoru came out of her bedroom dressed in casual jeans and a tank top to find her estranged roommate and co-worker sitting at the table with her future brother-in-law. And they were having a conversation and smiling! She walked towards them and pulled out a chair doing her best to not feel betrayed in some twisted fashion.

"I see you two have met," Kaoru observed.

"Yes, Lieutenant Seta is such a good man. Your sister is quite lucky," Megumi said, not taking her eyes off Soujiro. She pointed towards the kitchen counter where a blue plate with an omelet sat with a few tendrils of steam rising from its surface. "Your breakfast is on the counter."

Kaoru stared at her roommate in disbelief. They'd been living together for over a month and Megumi had never made her breakfast before. Come to think of it, it was strange that Katsu wasn't there either. "Thank you Megumi, that was kind of you," Kaoru said as she rose from the table. She picked up her plate and brought it to the table.

"You two wouldn't believe what it's actually like out there," Soujiro explained as he finished off his breakfast. He drank some of his orange juice before continuing. "I've been in the service for five years now and I've never seen fighting this intense before. I just don't think it's going to end anytime soon."

"That's terrible!" Kaoru exclaimed with her fork poised halfway to her mouth.

"Eat your food Kamiya and calm down," Megumi admonished. "That's job security for us."

Kaoru blinked at her callous words in disbelief.

"Calm down Kaoru, she's obviously joking," Soujiro explained.

Kaoru silently ate her breakfast.

"She doesn't get sarcasm very well," Soujiro said to Megumi. She nodded, indicating that she was already familiar with this aspect of her roommate. "There's rumor that a special operation is going to find a way to end the war quickly."

"Really?" Megumi leaned with her elbows on the table, closer to Soujiro. "What's the rumor?" Her dark eyes had grown bright in curiosity.

"If I told you, I'd have to kill you," Soujiro answered mischievously.

His words echoed familiarly in Kaoru's mind, eerily similar to her last conversation with Sanosuke. She was really missing him, more than she expect to at least. "Where's Katsu?" Kaoru asked suddenly.

Megumi frowned at her before tossing back her long dark hair and rising from the table. She took her plate to the sink and began to rinse it off. "Not that it's any of your business, but I broke it off with him."

Soujiro looked at Kaoru, his expression clearly indicating he wanted to know who she was talking about. She ignored him and focused on Megumi, her thoughts focused on Ssanosuke. "You were too good for him anyway," Kaoru told her.

Megumi turned back to her, obviously surprised by the statement. "You think so?"

"There are many handsome men out there," Kaoru started. She met gazes with Soujiro briefly before continuing, letting him know she wasn't just speaking for Megumi. "The key is to find the man that appreciates you the most. You need to find the man you can live without but would live so much happier with."

Megumi smiled sadly at Kaoru before walking over to her. She touched her shoulder lightly. "I have to go to work, we can talk later." Soujiro rose to his feet and took Megumi's hand and kissed the back of her fingers.

"It was a pleasure meeting you," Soujiro said. After Megumi left Soujiro returned his attention to Kaoru. "I have a feeling the two of you are not close."

"You always were good with those feelings," Kaoru agreed. "Tell me about Aoshi," she requested quietly.

Soujiro sat down and leaned back casually in his chair. "He misses you. He says you two aren't broken up, just on a break."

Kaoru's brow arched at that declaration. "Did he now?"

Soujiro's expression turned serious. "Who's Sanosuke?"

"How do you know about Sano?"

"From the way Megumi tells it, you're the one who knows Sano real well. Do I need to let Aoshi know he has competition?" Soujiro asked, only half-joking.

"Sano and I are good friends—great friends—really. He's a great man, Sou. However, his heart belongs to Megumi. She's just too blind and stubborn to realize it," Kaoru explained. Mentally, she made a note to clear up that misconception with Megumi, considering they were now on speaking terms. It was the least she could do for the man that made her first couple of weeks in this desert bearable. "I sure seem to know a lot of great men that are in love with other women," she mumbled.

"Plenty of great men love you too," Soujiro told her seriously, reaching out and clucking up her chin with his finger. Kaoru shrugged her shoulders and jerked her chin away from him. "How about you give me the grand tour of this place?"

"Sure, not much to see though," Kaoru warned.

OOOOOoooooOOOOO

Enishi waited as the men he was about to pilot into the thick of the war climbed into the back of his helicopter. These men were not about to engage in the bloody battles that resulted in severed limbs but rather were about to invade the enemy's headquarters under cover.

They would work to destroy the enemy from the inside and this was to be the first of several missions. Enishi had been called off his typical transport of wounded soldiers' assignment to drop off the Special Forces. He had been requested by name, though he wasn't sure why. He was good, but he didn't think there was anything special about him that would warrant him to be specifically requested.

At least, he didn't understand until he saw the man in charge of the group. The man wasn't very impressive in size and was slight of build. However, his eyes were another matter, fierce amber that revealed calculated precision. The man's codename was Battousai, but Enishi knew him better as Kenshin Himura, his brother-in-law.

He was slightly surprised to see at least one other familiar face. Captain Sanosuke Sagara was present as well. The two men locked gazes, both caught off guard at the appearance of the other. It wasn't that Enishi didn't like Sagara, he respected the man. He couldn't help the feelings of jealousy he had regarding the brunette's ability to have such a blunt personality. Perhaps the envy stemmed from the fact that Enishi was struggling to gain the friendship of the new Dr. Kamiya when Sagara had blundered his way into establishing a lifelong bond within the first few hours of knowing her.

Enishi didn't recognize the other men, but he didn't need to recognize them. It was better if he forgot they existed, that was the way of covert operations. He knew Himura well enough to know that he would make certain all his men made it in and out of the operation intact and uncompromised.

Himura might have been a rotten husband, but he was a fine leader.

Himura walked over to Enishi after his men was secured in the back of the helicopter. They both entered the cockpit at the same time, Himura would be serving as his co-pilot. "These are the coordinates," Himura said softly, before rattling off some numbers that Enishi processed automatically without really listening.

"The time frame?" Enishi asked, emotionlessly. He just had to do his job. He would serve his country and ignore the man sitting next to him.

"Two hours, then meet us at the rendezvous point for retrieval."

"Aye," Enishi confirmed as he started to lift off.

OOOOOoooooOOOOO

Aoshi sat in the nurses' station, pouring over the various references books in search of an answer. He hated to admit that he wasn't sure what illness his patient suffered from, but he was just fresh out of medical school. He wasn't expected to know everything, but it upset him greatly that he didn't.

His patient hadn't been on the battlefield in several weeks. So he didn't think it was exposure to some kind of biological weapon, but it could have been. The senior doctor was of no use, he told Aoshi that this was his patient and his responsibility to figure it out. He wasn't being paid to baby him.

That response had pissed off the young doctor to no end. The man's symptoms were rather vague and generic. He was fatigued, had full body aches in both muscles and joints, and cough. His physical exam was normal for the most part, his chest x-ray was clear, his blood work was unremarkable. There was slight anemia, but not enough to be causing such symptoms as this. His lymph nodes were enlarged, so he was obviously fighting a virus. But his throat wasn't red, nor did it hurt him. And there were no lesions on his skin.

In summary, Aoshi had no clue what was wrong with the man. He had him in isolation so as not to expose any of the other soldiers, but he feared that he himself had been exposed now. He slammed shut his reference book in aggravation. His eyes landed upon the telephone sitting on the counter.

It was a long shot, but maybe Kaoru knew. She didn't have any more experience than him but maybe she had picked up and learned something that he didn't know. He hadn't been allowed to call her, that privilege hadn't been earned yet, or some such nonsense. He could spend all day and night saving lives, but he hadn't earned the right to call his girlfriend. All right, his ex-girlfriend, but he wasn't about to admit that to anyone.

Decision made, he began to punch in the code for long distance calls. He knew Kaoru's phone number from memory. Gamma base, unlike his base, allowed the residents to have their own phone lines.

He dialed the number and waited with raw nerves as the phone began to ring. He looked out the glass windows of the nurses' station, feeling like the guilty child who broke the neighbor's window playing baseball.

On the third ring the phone was picked up.

"Hello?"


	8. Chapter 8

**Battle Front: Chapter 8**

"Hello?" Soujiro repeated when the person on the other end of the line didn't answer back. "I can hear you breathing," he said. He winked at Kaoru who had given him a curious look as she stood at the sink washing the glasses they had just used.

"Seta, why are you in Kaoru's apartment," Aoshi said in a voice that lacked both inflection and warmth. Soujiro smiled over the phone, it sounded like Dr. Shinomori was jealous of the fact that he was in Kaoru's apartment and he was not.

"I do enjoy keeping a close eye on what is mine," Soujiro purposely goaded. Aoshi remained silent on his end of the line and Soujiro realized it was best not to anger the man any more. He might decide to let him bleed to death should he discover him on a battlefield. "Here she is," he conceded handing the phone over to Kaoru as she finished drying off her hands on a towel.

"Hello?" she asked puzzled by Soujiro's actions. Soujiro left the kitchen to give her privacy as she caught up with her ex-beau.

"Kaoru, I need your assistance," Aoshi greeted, coming straight to the point as always. He wasn't about to let her know that he had been moderately upset that Seta was in her apartment answering her phone. He knew that the man was engaged to her sister, but that didn't really mean anything until those matching bands were placed on their fingers.

"Aoshi!" Kaoru screamed happily into the phone, a large smile spreading across her lips. "I've been missing you so much! Have you received my letters? I got yours from last month and it really made my being here so much more tolerable," she continued.

"Kaoru," Aoshi interrupted before she could go on. He cast a nervous look out the side of the nurse's station, hating that he was breaking protocol considering he was such a stickler for the rules, knowing his time on the phone was limited. Though he missed Kaoru something awful, his patient's health was the excuse for his call. "I've missed you as well, unfortunately this call never happened," he explained.

"Huh?" Kaoru asked, finding absolutely no sense in his response. "What do you mean? I'm talking to you right now," she argued annoyed.

"I don't have permission to be calling you, and most likely I'll be given some sort of demerit when they find out that I have. The reason I'm calling is because I have a patient that has stumped me and I need your help."

Kaoru listened as he listed off the symptoms. "Physical exam was completely normal except for the lymph nodes? Any tender points around the joint areas?"

"It's not a rheumatoid disease, he has no history and ANA is negative," Aoshi said. "It has to be a virus, but I don't know which one."

"He ever had mono?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" he growled.

Kaoru smiled over the phone at him. "Just because you shared sake with someone and got mono and then gave it to me, doesn't mean I can't bring it up."

"You know I hate it when you mention that."

"I know. Your guilt consumes you when you think back over the week we both had to spend sick as a dog and ended up missing mid-terms junior year of undergraduate." She smiled fondly at the memory in retrospect. Their respective roommates had decided to quarantine the two of them by temporary swapping roommates. Their healthy roommates moved into Aoshi's apartment while the they in their sickness were roommates for the first time.

Kaoru began to tap her fingernails lightly on the formica of the kitchen counter. "Since there are no skin manifestations, or any vesicles in the oral mucosa, I'd run a check for Epstein-Barr at least you'll know if that's the cause. It's probably just flaring up, but all you can do for that is supportive care anyway."

"Even if it's positive, there has to be a cause for his immune system to suppressed for him to have a flare up," Aoshi reasoned.

Kaoru shrugged, not thinking about the fact that her dearest friend couldn't see the action. "Could be the chow and lack of sleep that's run him down and made him fatigued. Stress always drops your T-cells."

"I suppose," Aoshi conceded. "I can't believe I didn't think to check for Epstein-Barr Virus. The lack of sleep must be making me stupid."

"I seriously doubt that," Kaoru interjected. "You just need to remember to look for the horses and not the zebras."

He spotted the old doctor that wouldn't offer him any advice early. "I've got to go Kaoru, it was really good to hear your voice," he paused wanting to say more, but not being sure how to say it. "Be safe," he added before hanging up.

Kaoru glared down at the phone in irritation. He didn't even wait for her to say goodbye! She slammed it back into its cradle and stormed into the living room. She sat beside Soujiro on the couch and crossed her arms over her chest in a huff.

Soujiro raised a brow at her. "Lover's spat?"

"Moron, he only called for medical advice, and then he didn't give me a chance to say goodbye!" She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the blank television set before them. She'd love to wrap her hands around the man's neck and just throttle him! "The nerve! He writes me one, single, solitaire letter and then doesn't answer any of mine. Then when he does manage to call me, he doesn't even want to talk to me!"

"Is that what he said?" Soujiro asked carefully, trying to calm the raging volcano that was Kaoru.

"Well no, he said he didn't have permission to be calling and that it was good to hear my voice, then he told me to 'be safe' before he hung up on me. He hung up on me!" she shouted. "I bet he's too busy making time with the cute nurses."

Soujiro gave her a brotherly pat on the shoulder. "Now, now, it's not quite so bad. He's very busy and I can tell you that when I was there he thought about you constantly. Now what about you? Have you been making time with the officers?" he asked with a sly grin.

For some unknown reason a visualization of Enishi came to mind which she vehemently rejected. "Absolutely not!" She took hold of her future brother-in-law's shoulders and turned him to face her eye-to-eye. "He's really been busy working and not forgetting about me?"

"Really," Soujiro answered firmly.

**OOOOOoooooOOOOO**

Kaoru sat at the kitchen table reading a medical journal; the radio ran filling the apartment with country music. She wasn't really a fan of country music, but one of the things she had come to recognize over the last month was the only American music that was played over the radio waves was Country.

She frowned over the new regulations for lipid levels in diabetic patients. Why were they always changing them? It looked like Mrs. Nagel would have to make some more diet changes. Kaoru was certainly not looking forward to their next appointment. She thought she was going to lose her head when she eliminated soft drinks from the woman's diet.

The front door opened and the sound of Megumi's high-heeled shoes clicked over the hard floor. "Where's Soujiro?" Megumi asked sitting across from Kaoru at the table. "I was looking forward to talking to him some more."

"He had to meet with General Saitou," Kaoru explained. "That was hours ago, so chances are he's off on some important mission to save the world now," she added flipping the page.

"I see," Megumi said standing up. She went to the refrigerator and opened some cabinets pulling out various items. "I'll make dinner for two then."

Kaoru watched bewildered over the top of the journal as Megumi began to stir various things together. She hadn't even cooked anything yet and the smell was already mouth watering! How did she do that? "Thank you, that's kind."

Megumi didn't answer so Kaoru returned to her journal. Ten minutes later Megumi sat back at the table. She pushed up the journal in Kaoru's hands to read the front cover and then shook her head. Then she slammed her hands down on the inside, bringing it to the table and blocking the article. "You should be reading Vogue or Entertainment Weekly, not medical stuff on your day off."

Kaoru pulled the journal out from under Megumi's hands and closed it. "Knowing how to save patients' lives is more important than who Nick and Jessica are dating now."

Megumi grinned. "That's true." She tossed her long hair over her shoulder. "Surely you already know about these conditions and treatments."

"Guidelines are always changing."

Megumi shrugged before checking on the dinner. She returned with two steaming plates that smelled like heaven. "Now, tell me about Sanosuke," Megumi suggested, taking a graceful bite.

Kaoru was envious of her poise. "This is a good bribe," she said taking a few bites herself. "What would you like to know?"

"Everything about the Rooster head."

**OOOOOoooooOOOOO**

She was so tired. She had stayed up most of the night talking with Megumi about anything and everything it seemed. They didn't have too much in common but it was amazing how well their personalities complimented one another. It was funny, the day before they woke up strangers and then last night they went to sleep as close friends.

Kaoru snuggled under her covers, the warm cocoon luring her back to the comforts of sleep. She didn't have to go in for several hours yet and she didn't really need to run every day.

Enishi scowled down at his wristwatch. She was late. He might as well meet her at the apartment, maybe save some time. He knocked on the front door and was greeted by Dr. Takani. She was wearing a slinky silk robe and looked less than refreshed. She narrowed her eyes at him and then retreated back to the kitchen without saying a word.

Enishi took that as invitation to come inside. The room with the closed door must have been Kaoru's. He walked over and knocked on the door. Nothing. He tried the door knob. Locked. He pressed his ear to the door and didn't hear the shower running; faintly he thought he could pick up the sound of heavy breathing.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his knife and flipped open a particular tool that was handy when it came to unlocking doors. He pushed it open silently and saw his running partner sleeping soundly. Her hair was in a loose braid and she wore a peaceful expression on her face as she snoozed softly.

Enishi took hold of the bed covers and roughly pulled them away from the sleeping woman. She automatically reached down and caught the covers before he pulled them completely off the bed and yanked them back up to her chin. He set his jaw determinedly and pulled the covers completely off the bed.

A pair of sapphire eyes stared at him blinking owlishly. "What are you doing there?"

Enishi smiled at her slyly. "I knocked, but no one answered."

"That's because I was sleeping!" She sat up; the thin strap of her nightgown slipping off her shoulder, Enishi felt his stomach muscles clench tight at the sight. She was angry, self-righteous, and sexy as hell. "How did you get in anyway? The door was locked."

He gave her a mysterious smile that had often times caused several women to fall head over heels for him in an instant.

Kaoru continued to fume. "What if I had been sleeping nude and you had come barging in here and tossing my covers away like that?"

His smile morphed into something seductive, the change startling. "Well if that was the case, then I'd certainly not feel like running. I'd recommend another form of cardio-activity."

Kaoru's face flamed in embarrassment and she threw her pillow at him. "You pervert! Get out!"

Enishi caught the pillow with ease. "Hurry up I want to at least get in three miles this morning. You've got ten minutes." Then he left, shutting the door behind him, sporting a wicked smile. Megumi was leaning against the bar at the kitchen sipping coffee and watching him.

"I'm not treating you when she decides to poison you," she warned.

"Good to know that she thinks about me so often that she's already plotting my demise."

Megumi laughed at his arrogance. "Hohohohoho! If Raccoon-girl heard that she'd beat you over the head." She lifted the coffee pot. "Want some coffee?"

"I'll pass on the coffee," Enishi said. He followed her into the kitchen and opened one of the cabinets, as if he lived there and took out a glass. He then held it under the faucet and filled it half-way with water. He calmly sipped on the water.

"How did you know where the glasses were?" Megumi asked suspiciously.

Enishi merely gave her his mysterious smile.

Kaoru stormed out of her room wearing running shoes, tank-top shirt, and sweat pants. She approached Enishi, took the glass out of his hand and finished it off herself before setting it in the sink. She took his wrist. "Let's go slow-poke."

"Just couldn't wait to get your hands on me, could you?" Enishi teased earning a scowl from Kaoru and more laughter from Megumi. Kaoru dropped his arm and headed out the apartment, leaving Enishi behind.

"Remember, I'm not treating you of the poison," Megumi called out to him in the hallway.

Enishi jogged to catch up with Kaoru, but she just jogged further away. He simply caught up. "Shouldn't you stretch?"

"I already did," Kaoru answered crisply.

"Ah," Enishi remarked, hurrying to catch up with her once more. "You can't outrun me; I don't know why you're trying. We still have three miles."

"The faster I run the faster I'll be done having to spend time with you."

"Come on Raccoon-girl, we were going to be friends now, remember?"

She turned a hard glare on him. "What did you call me?"

Enishi grinned slyly at her again. "Raccoon-girl?"

Kaoru fisted her hands at her side and groaned in annoyance. "That stupid Fox! It's her fault I have these circles under my eyes."

A snowy eyebrow arched at that statement. "Really? Maybe next time you two might invite me to the party."

Kaoru gaped at him open-mouthed, stopping abruptly with her cheeks flaming red. "What? It's not like that you idiot!" She punched his arm, hard and felt faint satisfaction at seeing him cringe.

That was the end of their verbal spar. They ran side-by-side, feet kicking up small dust clouds behind them on the sandy terrain. It was still dark outside and there was a faint chill. Enishi frowned at the goose bumps on Kaoru's arms, but he knew that once they ran for a while and had their hearts pumping and blood flowing that she'd warm up soon. He reached up and adjusted the dark ball cap he wore over his stark white hair. In the dark his hair served as a beacon, not something you wanted to be during a time of war.

Presently, he didn't care for the small amount of concern he was feeling towards Kaoru's well-being and was doing his best to squash it. He was only running with her because he was running at this time of day anyway and he didn't want to have to break in another doctor to replace her after she foolishly got herself kidnapped or murdered.

Enishi watched the terrain they ran through, searching for any sign of life, besides their own. His sharp eye caught the slithering movements of a snake crawling back into its hole. Other than that, they seemed to be the only people in the world. He gazed at Kaoru from the corner of his eye, marveling at the ripple of her muscles and determined look on her face. She was focused towards achieving her goal, something he could relate towards. And thankfully her arms were no longer covered in goose bumps.

He was often referred to as the White Tiger and for some reason, he thought that Kaoru would make a good tigress. He shook his head of such foolishness. "Any reason you're so quiet this morning?"

"Nothing to talk about with you," Kaoru snapped.

"Pull in your claws Raccoon-girl," Enishi cautioned coldly.

"Sorry, long night." She glared at him. "Not like that though, you pervert. My future brother-in-law is stationed here now, just got here yesterday," she explained. She didn't need to tell him about her conversation with her ex-boyfriend and best friend. That was _none_ of his business.

Enishi reached out and grabbed hold of her shoulder abruptly and threw her to the ground under some brush. He covered her body with his own, one hand around her mouth to keep her silent. Kaoru was ready to flip him over and punch his face in but stopped herself when she saw the men. Enishi slid his hand away from her mouth then, no longer afraid that she might speak and draw attention to them.

Standing before them was a pair of men with flashlights in one hand, and semi-automatic machine guns in the other. They were speaking in a language Kaoru was unfamiliar with and she knew they weren't on her side of the war. Kaoru could feel her chest constricting as a panic attack was trying to work its way through her system. If she'd been running by herself she'd have been caught for certain.

Instead, she found herself lying in the dirt with the man she hated just last week laying on top of her. His arms were on either side of her, protecting her like a muscular cage of human flesh. His chest was pressed firmly against her back and she could feel the rapid pace of his heart. His mouth was by her ear and his breath cool against her skin.

They lay together in the dirt of the desert under the scraggly vegetation available hiding from a pair of bored looking men with machine guns. They shown their lights towards the bush that they cowered under and both Kaoru's heart and respirations stopped. Even Enishi had held his breath.

And then the two men were gone, walking in the opposite direction from the base. "Breathe," Enishi whispered huskily in her ear, prompting the young doctor to do just that. She felt his lips press softly to her neck, just under her ear. "You did good, Kaoru. Everything is going to be fine now."

He stood, pulling Kaoru up with him in the process. He kept his arms wrapped loosely around her before giving her a quick hug and then releasing her. He smirked at her as he readjusted his cap. "I must say knowing you has been an adventure. I've been running here for months and never once had I almost run into enemies."

Kaoru stared at him dumbly, not able to say anything, her emotions in an uproar and her face ghostly pale. Enishi placed his hands on her shoulder and gave her a gentle shake, locking his dark eyes onto her sapphire ones. "You're safe now; I won't let anything happen, okay? It's a promise."

Kaoru nodded before casting one last petrified look over her shoulder. "Come on," Enishi coaxed leading her back towards base at a fast jog holding on to her wrist lightly. His jaw was clinched tight for the duration of the run back, his hand stayed on Kaoru as he guided the way. He'd have to report this incident to the general, but he'd get Kaoru to her roommate first. He'd seen enough shock in the last few years to recognize it with or without a medical degree. And he didn't care for this timid version of Kaoru one bit. He preferred it when she punched and hissed at him.


	9. Chapter 9

**Battle Front: Chapter 9**

Megumi sat beside Kaoru on the couch in their den and handed her a mug of hot chocolate. "I called the office and I don't want you coming in until this afternoon, understood? As your superior office I won't tolerate any disobedience on your part."

Kaoru accepted the hot chocolate, enjoying the warmth of the liquid in contrast to her ice cold hands. "All right," she agreed. She would never allow her pride to get in the way of patient care.

"Glad I didn't have to browbeat you," Megumi said with a grin; however her eyes were dark with worry. She rose from the couch and began to gather her things. "I'll come back here for lunch and I'll determine whether or not you're ready to return to work."

It took all of Kaoru's will power to not retort, so instead she drank some hot chocolate. "Lunch time then."

Megumi cast her roommate one last look of concern before leaving for the clinic. Kaoru waited until she heard the click of the door's locks falling into place. She stared blankly at the news channel on the television, unable to focus on the earthquake that happened in some distant land.

She almost died out there. A simple morning run almost ended up in her being target practice! If Enishi hadn't been there with her she'd have been dead for sure, or possibly worse. She could have been taken captive and raped and abused in ways best not thought about and then killed.

Her vision started to blur and the news program was now a conglomeration of bright lights and noise. She almost died and she hadn't really lived! The man she had spent the last eight years of her life in love with wouldn't have missed her. Her family would have been fine without her. They might be sad for a few months, but she knew Misao and she'd have gotten over the grief sooner or later.

She hadn't really built up a relationship with her patients yet, and even if she had they'd have simply gotten another physician. Would the world really miss the presence of Kaoru Kamiya?

Enishi paused outside the door to Kaoru's apartment. He had run into Megumi in the hall and knew that Kaoru wouldn't be returning to work until that afternoon. He needed to take off on his assignment soon, but he couldn't quite ignore the nagging sense of responsibility he felt.

If he hadn't have dragged her out of bed that morning she'd have never experienced such a close encounter. He pulled out his pocketknife again and picked the lock and entered the apartment silently. He could hear the television in the background so he followed the sound into the den.

There was a sharp pressure in the center of his chest at the vision of her sitting on the couch, arms wrapped around her legs and face pressed against her knees. Her long hair cascaded around her like a dark curtain. He crossed the distance to her and kneeled in front of her, placing his hands gently on her shoulders.

Her beautiful sapphire eyes were red rimmed as she met his gaze. Enishi sighed heavily before he sat beside her on the couch and gathered her small body against him. She pressed her face against his chest and he tried to ignore the fact that her tears were dampening his shirt.

He ran his long fingers through her dark, silky hair finding comfort himself in the small action. Enishi never was one of those touchy-feely types, but for once in his life he was going to stick around instead of running off when a female started crying.

"It's all right now, you're safe," he said quietly.

Kaoru jerked at the sound of his voice. Whereas the television had been reduced to garble in her mind his quiet, deep voice cut through to her mind like a hot knife through butter. She pulled away from him and lifted the bottom hem of her shirt to dry off her eyes.

Enishi chuckled softly. "Does it take a near-death experience for you to show me some skin?"

She punched him lightly on the shoulder. "Pervert," she said with a sniffle.

Enishi kept his arm wrapped loosely around her shoulder and kicked his feet up on her coffee table. Kaoru couldn't help but compare him to Sanosuke with his suddenly comfortable posture.

"Why are you here?"

Enishi didn't answer her right away. He reached for the remote control and turned off the television. Then he turned to face her, searching her face intently before speaking. "Mostly because I don't want you to blame this incident on the fact that I made you go running with me."

Kaoru's brows winged upwards. "You came all the way over here to make sure I didn't blame you?"

"There's plenty of stuff you can blame me for that I deserve whole heartedly. But I want you to realize that we're in the middle of a war over here. What we faced this morning was nothing compared to what those soldiers you treat every day see."

"So you're here to tell me to stop feeling sorry for myself, is that it?"

"No, I came here to give you a shoulder to cry on," Enishi answered matter-of-factly.

Kaoru gaped at him, blinking in disbelief. It wasn't so much what he said, but how he said it. He sounded exactly like Aoshi! "I have two perfectly good shoulders myself," she snapped.

Enishi's hand closed around her far shoulder and drew her back against him. "We can all use an extra set sometimes."

"Why are you trying to be nice?"

He looked absolutely insulted. "I'm never nice," he countered.

"I see."

"No, you don't, but that's fine. I was harsh on you for no obvious reason when we met. I'm really not such an asshole as that."

Kaoru couldn't help but laugh. "Why did you change your attitude that night?" She batted her eyelashes. "Was I that irresistible under the moonlight?"

Enishi sighed, closing his eyes and resting his chin on top of Kaoru's head. "I used to be in medical school," he started to explain. He waited, contemplating whether or not to bare his heart to this woman. No one knew the source of his bitterness, but as he told Kaoru earlier, they were in the middle of a war. And he didn't want to die with that on his conscience.

"Why didn't you finish? They kick you out for your terrible people skills?"

"Oh hush up. I can deal with people just fine."

"Ha!"

"You don't seem to be complaining right now," he pointed out.

"That's just because I'm depressed and you're the only person around."

"Fair enough. I was on my surgery rotation and my sister was the patient."

Kaoru pushed away from him to look him in the eyes. "How in the world did that happen? You're never supposed to treat anyone you know!"

"They didn't realize we were related, she's married so has a different last name." He paused, collecting his thoughts. He could feel the old anger swelling up inside. "The surgery didn't go well," he explained quietly.

He looked down in surprise when Kaoru took his hand. He could see the sympathy in her eyes so he avoided looking at them and instead focused on the small hand holding his. Was she trying to protect him from pain? He eased his hand out of hers. "She didn't die. But she's now a living shell—all hollow inside."

Kaoru remembered Yahiko telling her this same story, but it certainly made a difference to find out that Enishi was on the surgical team. The guilt must have eaten him up inside. No wonder he became such a harsh man.

"You were a student. I'm sure it's not your fault."

"It wasn't."

"I see."

The two sat in silence. Kaoru was unsure how she should respond to what Enishi had just shared with her while Enishi's thoughts began to drift towards his mission that afternoon. Without warning he swung his feet off the coffee table to the floor and stood. "I'll be by the same time tomorrow to go running," he said before leaving.

Kaoru stared after him in disbelief. How could he possibly think she'd want to go running with him after what happened that morning? She sighed, it sounded exactly like the arrogant jerk. It was his way of saying that neither of them should be bogged down by events that happened in the past.

She scoffed at herself. Maybe she took her Psychiatry class a little too seriously if she was going to try and psychoanalyze everyone. "Forget this," she muttered getting up from the couch and heading for her room.

She opened her closet door and pulled out her professional dress for the clinic. She'd take that arrogant captain's advice and stop dwelling in the past and go to work and face Megumi's temper bravely.

**OOOOOoooooOOOOO**

"What do you think you're doing?" Megumi hissed when Kaoru stepped into the clinic wearing her white coat with her stethoscope dangling around her neck.

"My job," Kaoru answered calmly with an overly bright smile.

Megumi narrowed her eyes and scrutinized Kaoru's appearance. "You could have at least ironed," she criticized pointing to the wrinkles in her slacks.

Kaoru blinked in surprise as her cheeks grew warm. She hadn't expected that kind of response. "I-I-I didn't even think about that," she stuttered.

"Whatever, just don't start suffering any post traumatic stress while you're on the clock. We're over booked with patients so get to it," Megumi said before returning to her own patients.

Kaoru brushed her hands over her slacks in an ill attempt to fix some of the more obvious wrinkles. She threw back her shoulders and stood proudly as she went to see her first patient.

Five minutes later she was standing outside her patient's room, cheeks flaming red and eyes wide in shock. Megumi rushed to her side and pulled her quickly into her office. "What happened?" she demanded.

Kaoru gripped Megumi's wrist tightly. "This morning was nothing compared to the trauma I am now suffering."

"What are you talking about?"

"The appointment the patient made was for a suspicious mole."

"Yeah, so?"

"It gave no mention as to where the mole is!"

Megumi arched a perfectly sculpted dark brow. "And where is it?"

Kaoru looked around, before leaning forward to whisper in Megumi's ear. The foxy doctor's jaw dropped open. "He has a mole there?"

"Several," Kaoru answered with a solemn nod. She ran her fingers through her hair, skewing her ponytail. "Am I supposed to do a biopsy there?"

"Ho ho ho ho ho!" Megumi laughed, earning a confused look through the open door from a passing nurse. Kaoru looked absolutely miserable and Megumi felt some sympathy towards her. "No need for two such traumatic events in the same day."

"You want to do the biopsy?"

"Ho ho ho ho! Of course not! Refer him to dermatology. Let it be their problem."

A sly smile split across Kaoru's face. "Sometimes I love the way your mind works."

**OOOOOoooooOOOOO**

Aoshi rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he pondered the opportunity. "So why is it that you wanted me?" he finally asked.

"Many reasons," Kenshin explained. "Your aptitude scores were in the genius category, both your father and grandfather were heavily medaled servicemen in special forces, and you haven't any attachments."

"So you choose men to work with you whom have nothing to lose? No one to be concerned if they do not return home for dinner?" Aoshi asked quietly. He couldn't help but feel irritated at the short, red haired man's assumption. He had attachments! Wait, wasn't Soujiro on this special operations team? He had a fiancée.

"It's a risk we all face," Kenshin answered solemnly.

"I need some time to think about this," Aoshi answered.

"You have until morning. The timetable we have to work with is limited."

Aoshi stood and walked towards the door, as he opened it Kenshin called out. "You must decide on your own. If you discuss this mission with anyone, and I mean anyone, it will be considered a matter of national security."

"I understand."

"The penalty would be severe," Kenshin reminded.

Aoshi turned around, eyes a violent storm of sea green. "I understand," he answered more firmly.

He walked back to his bunk at a brisk pace. Kenshin's words echoed in his head. _'You haven't any attachments.'_

Not for the first time, Aoshi wondered about the wisdom in his decision to join the military and to involve Kaoru. Even more, he wondered about the wisdom in ending their relationship. If fear and doubt hadn't played a role he'd have already been down on one knee before the woman.

But fear and doubt had played a role, a pivotal one at that. It wasn't fear or doubt in Kaoru. It was fear and doubt in himself. He didn't believe he was worthy. Beneath the surface of his seemingly calm exterior raged a fire of such proportions he was afraid he'd lose control. He didn't want to risk burning Kaoru.

He reached into his dresser door and pulled out his forty five magnum Desert Eagle and tucked it into the waistband of his jeans. Today was his off-duty day and he had planned to relax, not be offered a position in a covert operation.

He'd go to the shooting range and practice. If he turned down the offer and Kaoru found out she'd have been greatly disappointed in him. More so, he'd be disappointed in himself for doing such a cowardly thing.

It was his idea to join the military to do everything they could to help preserve freedom. Hypocrisy was not something he could actively engage in, nor was avoiding conflict.

**OOOOOoooooOOOOO**

Enishi rose from bed and looked at his alarm clock and cursed. Without fail he would wake up at four o'clock. Even after daylight savings had occurred he still woke up at that time no matter. For once, he wanted to sleep late, late being half after the hour.

He stretched his long, sinewy arms high above his head before reaching for his toes. He wandered into his kitchen and poured a half glass of water and took a banana from his fruit bowl. He always liked bananas before running; the extra potassium did wonders for preventing cramps in his calves.

He leaned against his refrigerator door as he thought back to his previous mission. He was surprised that Sagara was suddenly so disciplined under Himura. He'd been a part of several covert operations in the past couple of years, but he couldn't help but think this one was probably more skilled in the art of war than any others he'd seen. Of course, it made sense that a bastard like his brother-in-law would be such a ruthless leader.

The only thing that was bothering him was the conversation he had overheard about involving a doctor on the team. Sagara, the fool, had actually suggested Kaoru. Thankfully, Enishi hadn't had to make an even bigger fool of himself by speaking out on what an absurd idea that was because Seta had beat him to it.

Himura hadn't wanted to involve any women on his team. It would seem he already had someone in mind and for some reason Enishi had an image of the young doctor he had met at the other base, the one that seemed to know Kaoru.

He tossed the banana peal into the trash before heading out. His hand was poised to knock on the front door of Kaoru's apartment when it opened. He kept his expression blank, only raising one snowy eyebrow in mild surprise.

Kaoru was already walking away, toothbrush in her mouth, headed for the bathroom.

"And here I was hoping to convince you to engage in some of the other kind of cardio activity in your bed, like we discussed yesterday." Enishi teased, leaning against the door frame in a sexy, pose. It was a well-practiced pose, known around the world for stealing hearts of women.

"Maybe some other time," Kaoru said after she spit out the toothpaste into the sink. "Could you grab my watch from my dresser?" she asked, meeting his eyes briefly in the mirror.

Enishi was flabbergasted. He was in his sexy pose and she was completely unfazed by his deliberateness. He had seen himself in the mirror; he was quite irresistible with his slightly messy 'bedroom' hair. And yet, here he was finding himself breathless and his heart racing at the sight of her in gym shorts spitting into a sink.

He slithered away from the door before he did something stupid, like taking her into his arms and tossing her to the bed and convincing her into the other cardio activity. He squinted his eyes into the darkness before flipping on the lamp on her dresser. He found the watch easily, but something else caught his attention.

He looked closer at the framed photograph and his suspicions were confirmed. Kaoru did know the young Dr. Shinomori and apparently she knew him very well. His hand clenched her sports watch tightly as he felt an outrageous sense of jealous gnaw in his gut.

"Did you find it?" Kaoru called from the bathroom.

Enishi turned away from the image of two young people obviously in love and found himself looking directly into that same young woman standing in the doorway. The expression on her face was one of mild confusion, nothing like the expression of absolute happiness he could see in the photograph.

"I was thinking we could run along the track in the recreation room," Kaoru said reaching for her watch in Enishi's hand. He didn't relinquish his hold on it. "Are you feeling all right, Enishi?" Kaoru asked reaching up to place the back of her hand against his forehead. "You don't feel feverish, but your eyes look a little wild."

"Where's Megumi?"

"Oh, she decided to forgive Katsu for being an idiot." Kaoru grinned. "She was bragging about the make-up sex they were going to have. Said it was the true reason behind every lover's spat."

Enishi shoved the watch into the pocket of his shorts and then placed both hands on Kaoru's waist. "Enishi?" Kaoru asked uncertainly, her eyes wide in concern.

"Make-up sex, huh?"

"That's what she said. What are you doing?"

He began to lead her towards the bed until her legs knocked against the edge. "I'm going to kiss you," Enishi informed her confidently.

"I thought you wanted to run," Kaoru protested as he leaned closer to her. For every inch he pulled closer to her she leaned back further until finally she collapsed on the mattress.

"I've been running in circles since I met you." He watched as her eyes fluttered closed and listened as her breath hitched. He kissed her softly, just a second really. He pulled back to wait for her to open her eyes again. He wanted to watch her watching him. "I want to catch the breath you stole from me," he whispered.


	10. Chapter 10

**Battle Front: Chapter Ten**

"You know, I could be court-marshaled for this," Sano pointed out to the woman lounging beside him.

Megumi tossed him a mischievous smirk as she brushed out the tangles in her long hair with her fingers. "Don't you think it would be worth it?" she teased. She turned around and ran her fingers from his lean waist to his muscular shoulders, letting them linger there. "Too bad you weren't man enough to tell me how you felt ages ago, Captain Sagara."

Sano grasped her fingers within his hands and trapped them against his shoulders as he kissed her forehead, then her nose, and finally her lips. "I think I proved to you plenty last night how much of a man I am."

"You rooster-headed idiot, I hate that I have been dating your best friend all this time. What must you think of me? I mean…," Megumi trailed off when Sano interrupted her with another kiss to the lips.

"Forget about it. He's a good friend and a real lady's man. I can't blame you for noticing him first." Sano kissed her again. "It's more important who makes the lasting impression as far as I'm concerned."

Megumi reached up and ran her fingers through Sano's unruly, dark hair. "Just so you know, the only reason I slept with you is because you gave me that sob story about how you're going off to war and tonight might be your last night, et cetera."

"Whatever works," Sano replied with a broad smile bringing his hands to her breasts and giving them a firm squeeze. He was rewarded by Megumi biting down on his lower lip.

"I have to get back to check on Kaoru. I couldn't tell her that you were back, so I told her I was seeing Katsu again."

Sanosuke's expression darkened. "I wish I could check on missy myself, I mean not only is she responsible for us getting together, but she's probably one of the best friends I've ever had. You're sure she's all right?"

"Yes, it was a bit of a shock, but surprisingly Captain Yukishiro has been a somewhat supportive friend to her lately." Megumi gave Sano's hair one last playful tug before she climbed out of bed. "You need to get back now; we don't need you getting court-marshaled when you could be earning some nice, shiny medals."

Sano heaved a heavy sigh before he too rose from bed and began to dress. "I had best be off then, you know how Saitou hates anyone to be late."

"Shouldn't you be addressing him by his rank?"

"What that wolf don't know won't hurt him," Sano answered with a chuckle making one last attempt to grab at Megumi. She evaded him easily and knocked him upside the head as a parting gift.

Sanosuke watched as Megumi left before he also left for his meeting. Luckily, he wasn't late, though the wolf did give him a suspicious scowl when he entered the room. He couldn't possibly know, could he? Of course he knew, the old pervert probably had cameras everywhere and was watching and…

"Glad you could join us Captain Sagara," Saitou greeted interrupting Sanosuke's theories. He lit a cigarette and gestured towards the other occupants of the room. Sano resisted the urge to cover his lips; there must be some evidence of the fox's teeth marks from when she bit him. Sano noticed several familiar faces from the crew he'd been working with for the past couple of weeks. However, there was one new face, though he had seen it somewhere before.

"Now General Saitou, there remains ten minutes before the meeting begins," Kenshin interjected coming to Sano's defense. It had seemed that since the two had met Kenshin had taken Sanosuke under his wing and treated him more like a little brother than a subordinate. "Sano, I'd like you to meet Aoshi Shinomori," Kenshin introduced the two men. "He will be the final member on the special operations team."

Sano extended his hand towards the doctor and worked hard to mask the millions of questions running through his mind. The first and foremost being, whether or not Kaoru knew that the man in her life was in the same building as her. Shinomori shook his hand with a firm grip and Sano couldn't help but be confused that the stoic, icicle before him could possibly be the same man that caused Kaoru so much joy whenever a letter came for her bearing his signature.

"Since we're all here we might as well get started," Kenshin began. "I have personally selected each and every one of you men based upon your military records, your aptitude scores, and your various favorable reports from previous commanding officers."

"Himura, we don't have so much time as to waste with idle chit-chat. If you would get to the business at hand," Saitou instructed.

"The General and I have been in close contact with the President planning this maneuver. I actually came out of retirement to see that the terrorist Shishio Makoto is removed. He is responsible for countless crimes against humanity as well as the terrible attack that provoked this war in the first place." Kenshin eyed each of his men, one at a time. "You men are all part of a team of the most select individuals in all the armed forces for our country. We have Army Rangers and Navy Seals. You are the best of the best."

Saitou tossed his cigarette to the ground and crushed it under his heavy boot. "In other words after Himura gives you the details on the operation you'll be immediately sent out to fulfill your orders."

As Sanosuke listened to the carefully planned out operation he began to wonder if his words to Megumi spoken in jest would come back to haunt him. He hadn't actually thought this mission could be his last. Now he wasn't so sure. He glanced to his side to see that Shinomori looked as calm and focused as the wolf. Soujiro looked perfectly at ease as well.

Well hell. Was he the only one that was the least bit nervous?

**OOOOOoooooOOOOO**

To say it had been a busy day would have been an understatement. Only a few hours before, Aoshi had made his decision to join Himura's team to carry out this special operation. This was the reason he joined the Army, to help protect his country.

With his medical training he was a crucial member on the team if they wanted to ensure everyone made it back out alive. He could remember the stories his father and grandfather both told of their time in the service when they served as the medic in their troops.

Of course, they conveniently left out the part about being international spies working within the military. He scanned the meeting room, observing the men he would be working beside. These men were entrusting their lives to him and he to them. His gaze lingered on Soujiro, a man he knew very well. A man that could have been his brother-in-law if he'd asked one simple question.

His mind began to drift towards the fact that Kaoru was nearby. It would be so easy to see her now that he was at the Gamma base. Of course, that wasn't allowed, this was a top secret operation and he would not compromise it for selfish reasons. He was selected because he was unattached. He had to remind himself of that.

Aoshi focused back on the words Himura was saying. The man sitting next to him, Sagara, was squirming in his seat. If he were to pass judgment he'd deem the man to be more of a thug than a hero.

"Any questions?" Himura asked unexpectly breaking into Aoshi's musings. Was he finished with the operation details already? No one spoke up. Finally, Sano raised his hand. "Captain Sagara?"

"What is the estimated time table on this operation?"

"Until it's accomplished," Saitou answered.

**OOOOOoooooOOOOO**

Megumi left the man she loved like she had never loved before, behind and reluctantly returned to the apartment she shared with Kaoru. She frowned at the front door—it was unlocked. "You'd think that girl would have learned to exercise a little more caution," she muttered closing the door behind her with a resounding thud.

She expected to hear Kaoru yell at her for coming in so late and for slamming the door. What she did not expect was to hear a pair of curses coming from her roommate's bedroom. Much less did she expect one of those curses to belong to Captain Yukishiro.

"Oh don't let me interrupt," Megumi called out teasingly. She wasn't sure if she should be happy that Kaoru was finally getting some action or distressed to know that she was interrupting.

"It's not what you think!" Kaoru rushed to her door, hair in disarray, clothes askew. Megumi's eyebrow rose in amusement. Kaoru straightened her clothing and stood up straight with as much dignity as possible. "You're home late."

"And a little too soon at that," Megumi answered, dark eyes looking past Kaoru to see a shirtless Enishi, white hair looking very similar to a certain rooster-head. "Good morning, Captain Yukishiro."

"Megumi," Enishi greeted, voice quiet and relaxed, nothing at all like the revved up Tanuki standing in front of him. He moved to join Kaoru in the doorframe. He slid his arm around her shoulders, as casually as if it were something he did everyday, and leaned down to kiss the crown of her dark head. "I must be going," he excused himself.

He walked smoothly towards the door, like a tiger who had just consumed his latest prey. "I'll see you for dinner Kaoru," he called out as he left.

Kaoru stared after him, her eyes swinging from the closed door to Megumi's bemused face. "What?"

Megumi only chuckled. "Nothing, nothing at all. I'm glad that the event from yesterday hasn't affected you too severely is all."

Kaoru's blue eyes narrowed in annoyance. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Megumi gestured for Kaoru to join her in the kitchen. She pulled out two cereal bowls, Special K, and a jug of skim milk. "Any woman alone with Yukishiro would have to be clinically insane to not be charmed." She poured the cereal and grinned at Kaoru. "I'm glad I don't have to commit you to the psychiatric department."

"Whatever," Kaoru mumbled taking the milk jug and drenching her breakfast. "I don't want to be hearing relationship advice from the woman who finds out that someone is in love with her and then goes off to restart her relationship with his best friend."

Megumi bit her tongue to keep from correcting Kaoru. It was a matter of national security and Sanosuke's job that she keep quiet about their last couple of nights together. "He's not Yukishiro, but Katsu is also the sort of man that you'd have to be crazy not to be attracted to."

"I like chocolate, but if I eat it all the time it will make me sick," Kaoru argued.

"And it will give you bad acne," Megumi added.

"That wasn't my point!"

"I know," Megumi conceded with a patronizing pat on Kaoru's hand.

Kaoru took one bite of her cereal and then began to twirl her spoon through the milky concoction in her bowl. Her appetite had vanished the moment Megumi had slammed the front door open and interrupted whatever might have happened with Enishi. "I have to tell Aoshi."

"Why?"

Kaoru blinked at the question, bewildered, not because of the question but because she didn't know the answer. "Because, I just have to tell him, that's why!" she yelled defensively.

Megumi raised her finger to her ear and rubbed. "You don't have to yell, my hearing is just fine, thank you very much."

Kaoru dropped her spoon, sending milk sloshing out of her bowl. "Oh Megumi, what am I going to do?"

"Life is short, do what you can," Megumi advised finishing off her cereal and depositing the bowl into the sink.

"Oh I should do it now," Kaoru fretted. She reached for the phone and the calling card she had stuck to the refrigerator. The line rang and rang. "He's not answering."

"Of course not, he's probably at work."

Kaoru sat back down heavily in her chair. "Megumi, what am I going to do? If you hadn't come in who knows what would have happened with Enishi. And I don't even like him!"

Megumi put down her spoon with a sharp slap of silver against the wooden tabletop. "Don't lie to yourself, Kaoru Kamiya," she warned. "The reason you and Enishi had so many clashes in the beginning was because you were attracted to one another."

"Right, and that's why you and Sano were always at each other's throats, right?" Kaoru snorted in annoyance. "I'm sure that's what Katsu will say if I were to ask him."

"Kaoru," Megumi began, her patience wearing thin. "I will only say this once. I was not with Katsu last night. He and I are not back together. Don't ask me where I was, or who I was with, just know that you don't know everything."

"Sorry," Kaoru apologized feeling chastised. Now that she knew Megumi wasn't with Katsu the possibilities were running through her mind of where she could have been. Surely she wasn't having an affair with General Saitou! "Maybe I should call my sister."

"That would be more wise," Megumi agreed. She carried her cereal bowl to the sink and dumped the contents in the disposal having lost her appetite.

Kaoru waited until Megumi had gone to her bedroom before using her calling card once more, but this time in calling Misao at work. The phone only rang a few times before Misao's familiar voice came through half a world away. "Hello?"

"Misao! I'm so glad to hear your voice," Kaoru rushed on her end.

"Kaoru! How are you? Have you seen Sou? Any news from Aoshi? Met any cute men while on base?"

Kaoru couldn't help but laugh at her sister's enthusiastic bombardment of questions. "My aren't you the curious one? First off, I have seen Soujiro, but he's off on some top secret mission now. Last time I spoke with Aoshi he called to ask me a medical question. And as far as the cute men on base go, that's why I'm calling."

"Oh this should be good."

"There's this pilot, and he was a complete jerk when we first met, but now I'm not sure. We started running together in the mornings and," she paused. Should she tell Misao about her close call with death? No. "And this morning we were going to go running again, but somehow we ended up kissing in bed and if my roommate hadn't come home at that time there's no telling what would have happened between myself and Enishi."

"Enishi Yukishiro?" an unfamiliar voice asked.

Kaoru froze. "Misao, who is that?"

Misao laughed uncomfortably. "Um, well you see Kaoru I'm working with Tomoe right now, remember the patient I told you was starting to make excellent progress lately? So I put you on speaker phone."

Just great. "Hello Tomoe, yes, his name is Enishi Yukishiro," Kaoru answered. "How do you know him?"

"He's my younger brother," the solemn voice answered. "It is truly a small world. If you are anything like your sweet sister here then I couldn't wish for anything but happiness between you and Enishi. He is a good man."

"Um, yes he is," Kaoru agreed. This was awkward, her face was flaming hot. One does not want the sister of the man she almost slept with to hear about it! Time to change the subject and fast. "Tomoe, I've heard a great deal about you from my sister. She speaks highly of you, as does Enishi. He once told me about how dear you are to him. He must be excited to know of your progress."

There was a long pause before Misao answered, "I'm so sorry Kaoru. I took you off speaker phone and changed rooms. Neither Enishi nor Tomoe's husband know of her progress. She wanted it to be kept a secret since Kenshin, that's her husband, went out of the country for work. I had no idea you were about to proclaim you almost slept with her brother!" Misao started giggling. "If I knew that my oh-so-serious big sister was calling to talk about her sex life I'd have taken the call privately!"

"This is not funny Misao," Kaoru objected in annoyance.

"Sure it is. What are the odds? But if you want my advice, you should give this Enishi guy a chance. Seriously, you snooze, you lose, right? Aoshi should have secured the deal with you. Did you know that he and Soujiro had actually discussed whether or not he was going to propose to you after you two graduated?"

This was certainly news. "What do you mean?"

"Well Soujiro was out with Aoshi a few weeks before the ceremony and they were looking at rings. Of course Sou told me, but I couldn't tell you, and it was killing me. We were both pretty shocked when instead of hearing the news of your engagement it was that the two of you were breaking up."

"That is interesting," Kaoru said quietly.

"I'm sorry, but I'm just looking out for what's best for you. And I think you should give this pilot a chance. Tomoe showed me a picture of him once, and boy is he hot! Why, if I wasn't a taken woman…"

"Oh shut up," Kaoru laughed. "Fine, it was nice talking with you. Next time don't have me on speaker phone though!"

"Maybe you shouldn't start talking away until you find out whether or not you're being broadcasted," Misao suggested.

Kaoru hung up and walked into the living room and flung herself on the couch. Megumi came out of her room and peered down at Kaoru. "Tired?" she asked.

"Bad idea calling my sister. She had me on speaker phone and you'll never guess in a million years who was listening in as I was talking about how I almost slept with Enishi."

"His mother?"

"Nope. His sister."

"Oh. That certainly is embarrassing," Megumi agreed. She couldn't help but feel a little smug at seeing her roommate so obviously mortified. "Oh stop moping. We need to get to the clinic." She reached down to force Kaoru to her feet.

"What am I going to do?"

"I don't know, but I don't think it would be a good idea to let Enishi know you're already calling up his sister to get the dirt on him."

Kaoru's jaw slackened. "What? That's not what happened!"

Megumi ignored her. "Yeah, when he finds out you've been hunting for those naked baby pictures of him he's going to think you're a total nutcase."


	11. Chapter 11

**Battle Front: Chapter Eleven**

It was dark and it was chaotic. Aoshi was crouched alongside two men in his team, the Army captains. They didn't seem to like one another much and yet also seemed to enjoy teasing one another.

Their chopper had been shot down and only through amazing skills was Enishi Yukishiro able to land them safely. Himura hadn't let that one little mishap affect the mission. He had simply included Yukishiro into his field men. And that was how Sagara and Yukishiro ended up flanking Aoshi on either side.

The sound of approaching footsteps broke the silence of the dark corridor. Sagara made a motion with his hands, being the only one with true hand-to-hand combat experience he was the leader of their trio. When the enemy guard came close Sagara stood up in the shadows with a United States Marine Core issue Ka-bar knife in his hand. How an Army officer ended up with a Marine weapon was a mystery.

And then Aoshi watched as the man silently slit the throat of the enemy. He clenched his jaw at the sight of all the blood. He had dedicated his life to saving lives and now he was being forced to watch humanity at its worse, slaying one another. It made his stomach churn.

Enishi must have noticed his discomfort because the next thing he noticed, the white haired pilot had grasped hold of his upper arm and whispered in his ear. "Remember, he's a bad guy."

Aoshi nodded, though he thought it was more likely that the slain enemy was a simple pawn in some madman's scheme to rule the world. He followed Sanosuke down the corridor as they approached the computer information room that they were assigned to infiltrate.

Once more they paused in the shadows as Sanosuke gave another silent order and gestured for Aoshi and Enishi to work together to take out the next guards. Simultaneously the two men put silencers on their Desert Eagle guns. Aoshi took aim for the man's forehead, but at the last moment he was unable to shoot him. He was to preserve life, not destroy it, and his aim was off, his bullet slammed into the wall just blow the man's ear.

However, before the intended victim could shout out a warning Enishi had killed both men, a kill shot to each forehead. Aoshi looked at the helicopter pilot in awed disbelief and horror as he calmly replaced his gun in the waist band of his uniformed trousers. Yukishiro looked back at him with a blank expression.

Sagara urged them to continue, not even pausing at the gruesome scene. Aoshi shook his head to clear his thoughts. He had a duty to his country. He wouldn't hesitate next time. The information room door opened unexpectedly and there stood a man, grenade in hand and a mad gleam in his eyes.

Aoshi raised his gun and shot the man using a perfectly aimed kill-shot. However, none of them had anticipated that the man had already pulled the pin on the grenade.

"Fire in the hole!" Sanosuke shouted turning towards them and knocking both Aoshi and Enishi to the ground under him. A fierce, fiery blast rang out through the tunnel and it felt like an inferno.

Sano rolled off the two other men and began gasping for breath. Aoshi quickly looked him over. The man had some severe burns on his back where the fire had incinerated his uniform jacket. "You'll be all right," Aoshi assured him helping him to his feet.

Sano shook his head and took off his helmet. "Yeah, but I have one killer head ache now with all this ringing in my ears, doc." He grinned, his white teeth flashing through the darkness of his soot covered face.

"Put your helmet back on you fool," Yukishiro hissed making his way towards the information room, gun at the ready. He kicked the body of the grenade launcher out of the way and entered the room.

Sano continued to carry his helmet under his arm as he followed Yukishiro. He ordered Aoshi to watch for intruders. Less than five minutes passed before the two men returned large grins on their faces at having recovered the mission's objective of copying the information from the base's computer.

Aoshi heard the sound of running feet and foreign shouts and urged the men back in the room. He slammed the door shut and locked it. "Alternate escape route," he suggested.

Sano's grin vanished from his face as he replaced his helmet on his head. "Yeah, I would like to return home to the fox in one piece," he muttered. "All right, follow me," he demanded reaching for the ventilation shaft covering.

"That will collapse under our weight," Yukishiro said in irritation.

"It always works in the movies," Sano said staring into the darkness of the shaft.

"If you avoid the weak junctions it might work," Aoshi offered.

There was gun fire at the door. "Or we can face the firing squad," Sano said leading the way. "Hurry up; I studied the blue-prints. This will lead us to the rendezvous point."

Somewhat reluctantly, Enishi agreed. He gestured for Aoshi to go first and Aoshi wasn't one to argue with logic. It didn't take long for the white haired pilot to join them.

"They'll know we went this way. No where else for us to disappear. We'll be sitting ducks," Enishi whispered.

"Then we best haul it," Sano hissed back.

There was daylight waiting at the end of the tunnel. Sano dropped first to the ground, but before Aoshi could join him he shouted back a warning.

"Crap! Stay in there! They're everywhere!"

**OOOOOoooooOOOOO**

Kaoru looked up in surprise when Megumi dropped the tray of food. They had just started their lunch break in the cafeteria and were enjoying a friendly banter when Megumi just let go of her tray.

"Butterfingers?" Kaoru teased. Her smile vanished as she took in the paled expression on Megumi's face. "Megumi? What's wrong?" She rose to her feet and helped her friend sit down in a chair beside her. "What's going on?"

"Something bad has happened," Megumi whispered. She turned dark, fear-filled eyes upon Kaoru. "Something has happened to Sano."

Kagome laughed. "Don't be ridiculous! What? Are you suddenly psychic?" She reached for her own tray and pushed her mug of hot tea into Megumi's icy hands. "Drink this and calm yourself down. You're being ridiculous."

Another tray slammed down upon their tabletop. "What's what with her?" Yahiko asked, opening his can of Pepsi and guzzling it down. "She looks like she saw a ghost."

"She thinks something bad happened to Sano," Kaoru explained.

Yahiko began to laugh. "No way, that guy is indestructible. Don't worry, he'll be back annoying you same as usual."

Megumi began to drink the tea and slowly placed it on the table. "I'm sure you're right." She laughed at herself. "I'm just being ridiculous. Don't listen to me."

"No worries, I never listen to you anyway," Yahiko said pushing his tray in front of her. "I'll go get myself some more food you can have my tray."

"Do you have premonitions often?" Kaoru asked gently, concerned.

Megumi shook her head. "No of course not, I'm not psychic." Her voice grew quieter, "However when my mother's parents died I did have a dream the night before about their plane crashing."

Kaoru had no words of comfort for that and so instead she began to pick up Megumi's fallen tray.

**oooooOOOOOooooo**

"Great, now we're going to be shot at from both ends," Enishi muttered slipping a fresh clip into his gun. "Try not to miss this time," he warned.

"It goes against what I do to kill people," Aoshi answered sharply.

"Right. The hypocritic oath."

"Hippocratic," Aoshi corrected.

"Sagara, you still alive?" Enishi called out.

"Barely," came the reply.

"Great, just flipping terrific. First my chopper gets shot down, then I get stuck working with my girlfriend's ex and now I'm trapped in the middle of an airshaft." Enishi began to shoot down the shaft, a few terrified screams answering his bullets.

"What are you talking about? You're dating Sagara's ex?"

Enishi turned a pair of hostile eyes onto Aoshi. "No, I'm talking about your ex, Kaoru."

Aoshi suddenly felt very capable of shooting his gun. "You're dating Kaoru," he repeated.

"Yes, and if we both get out of here alive we can have a proper gentleman's duel for her honor, savvy?" Enishi shot down the shaft some more before peering over the edge outside. "Sagara's been shot," he observed.

Aoshi looked over the edge and his mind raced with negative scenarios at seeing where Sagara's wound was. It was a gut shot, a slow, painful way to die. "He needs medical attention immediately."

"Fine. You gather him up and I'll go steal an enemy chopper and gather the troops to return to base," Enishi said.

"Looks like the cavalry arrived," Sano said, voice growing groggy.

"Sagara!" the shout of Kenshin Himura cried out worriedly as he crouched beside his fallen man. Enishi and Aoshi slipped out of the shaft and joined him, both assessing Sano's wounds.

"He's been shot multiple times," Enishi announced grimly meeting Aoshi's eyes.

Kenshin hefted Sano's body up and supported his weight. "A couple of Ranger's already secured a new helicopter."

"Good," Enishi said, hurrying ahead, leaving Sano behind with Kenshin and Aoshi.

"You got any pain pills on you Shinomori?" Sano asked, fighting to keep his eyes open.

"No, but we'll fix you soon," Aoshi promised.

Sano nodded and then smiled broadly. "Hey Himura, I got the discs. Mission impossible accomplished. Do I get a medal now?"

"You got yourself shot for being foolish, not for being heroic. Why would you get a medal for that?" Kenshin teased.

"Because I'm going to die," Sano said sadly.

"No, you're not," Aoshi said determinedly standing on Sano's other side to help Himura support his weight.

Sano turned toward Aoshi, blood streaming from his forehead where a bullet had grazed him. "Will you tell the fox that I love her? And you need to take Kaoru back out to the beach. She looked happy there."

And then Captain Sanosuke Sagara lost consciousness. Kenshin and Aoshi increased their pace to the helicopter.

**oooooOOOOOooooo**

Kaoru's beeper was going wild. She rolled herself out of bed and threw on her scrubs. She quickly brushed her teeth and stumbled into the living room to see Megumi quickly tossing her hair up in a pony tail. "You got paged too?"

"Must be some major emergency," Megumi said rushing towards the door with Kaoru hot on her heels.


	12. Chapter 12

**Battle Front: Chapter Twelve**

Chaos. It was utter chaos. The first familiar face Kaoru saw was that of Soujiro Seta. He rushed to her side, a grim expression on his face.

"It's bad Kaoru, we were on a reconnaissance mission and things went awry," he explained. "We accomplished the mission, but at great sacrifice."

Kaoru looked past him to see a familiar head of dark hair. "Sano?" She started to rush to his side, but Soujiro grabbed hold of her arm to stop her.

"He's being taken care of, you're needed in O.R. 2 right now."

"But Sano is my friend, I have to help," Kaoru protested pulling away from Soujiro.

"Captain Yukishiro is in O.R. 2, he was shot on our escape to the helicopter. He flew it all the way here, without letting anyone know he was hit. He's had a great deal of blood loss."

Kaoru's face went ghostly white as the blood drained away. "Enishi?"

Soujiro nodded solemnly, guiding her towards the operating room in question. "His last words before he passed out was his request that you be in on his surgery. Otherwise, he'd rather bleed to death."

Kaoru shook her head with tears swimming and obscuring her vision. Enishi was probably the most stubborn man she'd ever met. "I'm no surgeon. I'll just get in the way. He needs someone who specializes in gunshot wounds."

"You're working trauma, sis. And it doesn't matter whether you assist or not, he wants you in the room even if it's just observation." Soujiro pulled her down the hall. "If I have to, as your superior officer I can just order you to come."

"No need for orders," Kaoru said drying her eyes with the back of her hand determinedly. Enishi wanted her in his surgery because he trusted her. She wasn't about to disappoint him by being some overly emotional female. If he found out he'd just give her more grief and she didn't need any more of his teasing. Though, at the moment she'd settle for a round of teasing if it meant he was okay.

OOOOOoooooOOOOO

Megumi was all business when she arrived at the emergency room. She observed the scene and saw several soldiers injured. Most of the wounds looked fairly simple, easily mended. Nothing worthy of an "X" marked across the forehead signaling a mortal wound in the triage. Just as she was thinking this a dark head of unruly gravity defying hair had caught her attention.

From the corner of her eye she saw Kaoru and Soujiro going to the Operating Rooms. She hurried toward Sanosuke, not recognizing the doctor working on him. The doctor looked at her, something akin to madness in his sea-green eyes. He read her name tag.

"Dr. Takani, I was waiting for you. He's going into surgery next. We have a neurosurgeon on his way and the vascular surgeon is getting prepped," he explained as he began to wheel the familiar patient to the Operating Rooms. "I'm assisting the vascular surgeon. The neurosurgeon requested you."

The patient opened his eyes, both red, evidence of the hematomas in his head. "Fox, are you going to guide me to heaven?" he asked, voice raspy before his eyes rolled up and he fell back into unconsciousness.

Tears slipped from Megumi's eyes as she reached for his hand and squeezed it with her own. "Don't you dare die on me, Sanosake Sagara. Don't you dare!" She looked up to meet the other doctor's eyes. "We can't let him die."

"We won't," he agreed pushing open the door to the operating room with his back. Several nurses and operating techs were preparing the room for sterilization. They left the prepping of Sano to their capable hands and began to scrub for the surgery.

"Who are you?" Megumi asked.

"Shinomori, Aoshi Shinomori," he answered focused on scrubbing under his fingernails with the abrasive scrub brush.

Megumi recognized that name immediately. It was the name of Kaoru's old boyfriend. What was he doing at their base?

OOOOOoooooOOOOO

Kaoru was gowned and ready to help in whatever way possible. She stood by Enishi's head and his eyes were focused on hers as the anesthesiologist began the sedation process. She was the last thing he saw before he lost consciousness.

At first they thought Enishi had been shot in the right shoulder, but it was more serious than that. He'd been shot in both the shoulder and a second bullet had passed through his right lower ribs. The radiology technician in the room was giving radiological images for the surgeon to assess the damage prior to jumping in scalpel happy.

The surgeon was grim in his assessment but optimistic that the liver had been missed and that the bullet had passed straight through the base of the right lung—mostly due to the gurgle-sound that hissed from Enishi's chest with each breath he took. It was too close and they wouldn't know until the surgery was under way. The bullets were nasty and sent off bits and pieces as they pierced the flesh. There was no telling what the internal damages would be like.

The sound of Enishi's heartbeat slowing caused a tightness in Kaoru's chest but it had stabilized. She realized it was just the affects of the anesthesia and not the result of sepsis or him bleeding out or anything of the sort.

Kaoru held the instruments in place for the surgeon alongside another resident in general surgery. At least she was the only one out of her element. It made her feel better to be on a surgical team that was competent in their tasks. She worked hard to control her anxiety as the surgeon continued to open up the man lying defenselessly on the table. The bullet may have passed through his chest but little bits of shrapnel kept being pulled out by the surgeon's magnetic tool.

It seemed like hours before it was over, thought it was only a two and a half hour long surgery—short compared to most surgeries.

Kaoru yanked off her soiled gloves and gown and tossed them in the biohazard waste basket in the corner of the room. Enishi was closed back up with a row of perfectly aligned stitches courtesy of her own skill. The surgeon had wanted to use staples, but she convinced him to allow her to do the sutures manually as she knew the scar would be less noticeable.

At least that was something she could contribute to the surgery.

The anesthesiologist gave her sympathetic smile as she took out Enishi's intubation tube. "He'll probably be awake in half an hour."

Kaoru nodded mutely, no words wanted to come out of her parched throat. She could only imagine Enishi's discomfort when he would awaken with his raw throat from the tube. A silent tear fell from her eye as she, the first assist surgeon, and two of the nurses took Enishi's sheet and managed to transfer him to the waiting gurney. The arrogant white-haired man was too fragile looking and all too human in his current state.

"I'll take him to recovery," Kaoru said.

The first assist started to argue, "I'm sure you're needed elsewhere Dr. Kamiya," he trailed off.

The head surgeon interrupted before he stepped out of the room on his way to his next operation. "Look Kamiya, f you're not emotionally stable you're more detriment to the patients than help so why don't you bring the patient to recovery and free up these nurses for the next soldier?"

Kaoru wanted to thank the grumpy man, but he was gone before she could. With a determined set of her jaw she began pushing Enishi toward recovery where she could happily embarrass him by letting him know just who had been the lucky one to insert his catheter.

OOOOOoooooOOOOO

"Is something wrong?" Misao asked her unusually glum looking patient. Usually Mrs. Himura was very positive of late. Her physical progress had been an inspiration to several of the other patients even.

Tomoe lifted up her cell phone that she'd just flipped shut. "My husband just called."

"Oh," Misao said unsure of how to react. While Kenshin may seem like a perfectly nice guy he tended to put his wife through some several emotional turmoil.

Dark eyes looked at her with a dazed expression before Tomoe lost her balance. Misao hurried to the frail woman's side and helped support her weight until they reached one of the cushioned chairs nearby. "Enishi's been shot," she whispered.

_Enishi?_ Misao racked her brain on the name. _Wasn't that the same guy that her sister had talked about? Tomoe's brother?_ "Are you sure?"

She nodded slowly. "I thought at first the general might have tried to reach me and that maybe Kenshin had answered the phone or something at the house. But, he was there, Misao." Her dark eyes looked to Misao imploringly. "Kenshin led the mission that got my baby brother shot. He might have just led my only family to his death."

Misao's throat constricted at the thought. Selfishly, her thoughts were more on her sister's happiness regarding the injured man, and then her thoughts were on Tomoe's well-being. It was only natural to think of how the event affected those she loved. She'd never even met this Enishi character so it made it hard to relate to him. But the thought of her losing either Kaoru or Soujiro would be irrecoverable.

"He called to say Enishi had just gotten out of surgery. He said that your sister had assisted in the surgery and was with him now."

"That's great!" Misao grinned broadly. "No reason to stress yourself then. Enishi's in the best hands possible! Don't you doubt my big sister."

Tomoe blinked at her with glistening eyes. "Maybe you're right. He's probably fine. But, why would my husband be there? He quit that kind of work years ago."

"He's a hero, Mrs. Himura. Just like my Soujiro and Kaoru and your Enishi. They're fighting over there so that we can be safe over here. Sometimes being a hero means you don't get to enjoy the peace you fight so hard for, but that doesn't stop you from securing it for your fellow countrymen."

Tomoe rubbed her fingers over her temples and gave a weary laugh. "You sound like some advertisement for the armed forces."

Misao grinned cheekily. "What can I say? I take the Pledge of Allegiance responsibly!" She stood and offered her hand to Tomoe. "Now let's get you up. Your legs won't regain their strength by you sitting around all day moping!"

The older woman gingerly accepted Misao's help and started back toward the walking bars. "Maybe this is good news. Maybe it means Enishi will finally be coming home," she murmured.

"See! Always a rainbow after the storm!"

OOOOOoooooOOOOO

"Ugh. My head is killing me. Can I get some water? You'd think almost dying to save the world would get a guy some special treatment," Enishi grumbled sitting up in the recovery room.

"I can offer you some ice chips," Kaoru said holding out a pink cup full of them toward his parched lips. Enishi reached out for the cup and begrudgingly tossed a few back and waited for them the dissolve in his mouth. He would have preferred water—or better yet a nice brew of especially dark beer. "So, you saved the world, huh?"

He shrugged handing the ice chip cup back to her. "Played an important part in a successful mission." Enishi lifted his hand and started to pull out the IV. Fortunately it was the one with the bum shoulder so he could reach it with his left hand.

"Don't! You need that!" Kaoru's hand covered his with her own to prevent the action. "It has pain medicine in it not to mention you're still in need of the blood transfusion on the other line. Your chest was practically cut open. You're going to want the morphine."

Enishi grunted but didn't attempt to pull out the line. Instead he turned his hand over and grasped Kaoru's in a firm grip. "I think you just want me drugged up." His eyelids were already feeling heavy. "How did it go?"

"It was bloody and gross. But at least you're not fat so I didn't have to see all that gross yellow adipose tissue getting in the way. One time last year I was helping in a hip replacement in this really overweight man and…"

"Kaoru, can you keep on track. I don't need to relive your horror memories from medical school. I've got my own post-traumatic stress to deal with." Enishi gestured toward his bandaged chest with his free hand.

"Two bullets, we managed to get out all the shrapnel. We put it in a little jar in case you wanted it for a souvenir. I thought that was gross, but the surgeon insisted."

"Cool. I'll be sure to put it on my mantel." Enishi laid back down on the bed no longer feeling the strength to stay sitting up. His eyes were starting to close. He cracked one open to glare at her. "Do I have a catheter?"

She couldn't help but giggle at his expression. "Inserted by yours truly."

"Great. I guess it could be worse. It wasn't like you weren't going to see it eventually," he mumbled.

Kaoru blinked comically at his words unsure if he really said what she thought he said. She knew the morphine tended to make people say things they wouldn't normally say but still, that was so, crude!

"And now you're wondering if I really said that or not. I did, but don't worry." Enishi yawned widely. "I'll just pretend to have no idea what you're talking about if you bring it up later when I'm no longer drugged up." He squeezed her hand before his grip began to grow slack. "Don't leave," he whispered.

"Not on your life," Kaoru vowed, grimacing at her own choice of words. She gave his hand a reassuring squeeze before letting go and looking around the recovery room. The woman in charge had wanted her to signal when Enishi had awoken so that they could move him to a regular room. They needed the space as the room was quickly filling.

A teenaged boy, a son of one of the officers on base, who volunteered at the hospital came to help her push Enishi out of recovery toward his assigned room. Kaoru couldn't help but fret about the significant absence of one rooster-headed friend.

_Note: So sorry for the year-long delay. It is amazing when inspiration strikes and when it holds back for a year. Feel free to check out my bio on information on the original novel I wrote. _


	13. Chapter 13

**Battle Front: Chapter Thirteen**

The panic from the previous night and the next day seemed hardly different from any other at the base. Kaoru had just finished a half-day morning shift at the clinic where she only had to deal with minor things like sinus infections, stitches from adventurous children, and maybe a cast or two for a couple of teenagers on the base—victims in a skateboarding collision. It was the kind of medical drama she preferred.

There was a knock on the door leading to the physician lounge where Kaoru had just hung up her white coat. "Yo, Kaoru, you ready?" Yahiko asked stepping inside and setting a small blue bag on the floor.

"Yahiko?" Kaoru asked surprised by his presence. "What are you doing here? Don't you have drills or duties?"

"Believe it or not, but this is my latest assignment. Lieutenant Seta ordered me to pick you up from the clinic and show you to Captain Yukishiro's room." Yahiko crossed his arms impatiently. "You coming or you going to make me drag you?"

"I'm coming," Kaoru said grabbing her tote bag and slinging it over her shoulder. "But, I already know where his room is. This is unnecessary."

"Give me the bag," Yahiko said blocking the doorway.

Kaoru tried to move past him, but it only succeeded in Yahiko glowering at her and still not moving. "Fine," she said thrusting it in his direction.

He put it over his shoulder, picked up the bag on the floor, and then stepped out of the way. "Maybe I wanted to see how you were doing?" he grumbled under his breath. "No need for you to go all P.M.S. on me. Yesh."

"I'm sorry," Kaoru said softly. "I didn't get much sleep last night and this morning seemed to drag on."

Yahiko shrugged. "No problem. It wasn't like I called you ugly or anything."

"And I'm fine, just worried."

"Understandable."

They walked together in silence passing by the mess hall and coming up to the hospital on the other side of the complex.

"Any news on Sano?" they asked simultaneously.

Yahiko scratched the back of his neck and Kaoru blew out a frustrated breath.

"Guess not," she muttered.

They walked up the stairs to the second floor and stood outside Enishi's door. Yahiko held out the tote and the blue bag to her.

"Is that for me?"

"It's from the Lieutenant."

Kaoru accepted the bag as well as her tote. "Tell him thanks. And thank you, Yahiko. If I find out anything about Sano I'll let you know."

"Right, well I've got those duties to do now. You should have a talk with the Lieutenant about making me his delivery boy."

"Unfortunately, Yahiko, when you're a Private that means you're going to be the officer's delivery boy. It's supposed to drive you become an officer so you can harass those lower than you on the totem pole."

Yahiko grunted. "If I wanted to be hazed I'd have gone to college and joined a Frat. See you around, Kaoru."

**OOOOOoooooOOOOO**

He was exhausted. The vascular and neurosurgeon had worked together to stabilize Sagara and his injuries. And the combined surgery lasted for fifteen hours. He'd stayed for the duration. The neurosurgeon did a craniotomy—nothing different than what the ancient Egyptians used—to relieve the pressure in his skull. They'd done imaging in the room to discover the source of the bleed in both the brain and the chest. Apparently, Sagara had more than just a graze from the bullet that hit his head. Fortunately, it hadn't been a hollow point bullet or he'd have had no head left.

The surgery had been a success, but the patient still hadn't woken up yet. Dr. Takani had remained with Sagara and asked him to find Kaoru and see if she could cover her patient load at the clinic. He nodded absently at her, intent on finding Kaoru anyway.

Life or death situations generally made you seek out the ones you loved. And there was the matter of clearing up the misunderstanding that Yukishiro had. Kaoru simply couldn't have been that arrogant Captain's girlfriend. He was completely the wrong type of man for her and would be nothing but trouble.

He headed toward the showers to scrub off the sweat that had poured off him under the stress and heavy lighting of Sagara's surgery. He went to his locker for his toiletries and towel, tossed his dirty scrubs in the laundry bin, and wrapped the towel around his waist before turning on the shower as hot as he could stand.

Aoshi stood under the steaming water until his back and shoulder muscles relaxed under its assault. He rinsed his hair with the travel-sized shampoo he'd carried and scrubbed with the green-tea body wash. The scents helped relax him further and by the time the water started to run cold he'd felt almost human.

Unfortunately, the only clothes he had to wear were another pair of scrubs. It seemed that was the life of a doctor—you never weren't a doctor. As luck would have it he ran into Soujiro almost immediately in the hall.

"Hey, Aoshi. You fall in a lake?" Soujiro asked with a grin.

"Where's Kaoru?" Aoshi deadpanned ignoring Seta's attempt at a joke.

Soujiro shrugged. "Not sure. Probably sitting with Enishi upstairs. At least she was about to do that when I had Myojin bring her up and give her some knitting supplies to pass the time. He finished his surgery hours before Sano's wrapped up."

"Kaoru doesn't knit."

"And that's why I also bought her a 'how-to' book." Soujiro rolled his eyes before starting down the hall with Aoshi walking beside him. "Yesh, I think I know my future sister-in-law well enough to know she doesn't knit!"

"I see." Aoshi refrained from asking the obvious as to why Soujiro thought she'd like to learn how to knit. He vividly remembered the time when she convinced him that they should both learn how to do Origami. Her reasoning was to be able impress the big shots at profession dinners by creating masterpieces out of the fancy napkins. He'd mastered how to do the whooping crane, and she'd mastered how to the square. Kaoru tended to become violent when frustrated and knitting involved needles. That couldn't possibly have been wise.

"And in case you're wondering, since you've not bothered to ask, Yukishiro is in room 215." Soujiro cast him a sly look. "So, I guess you want to let her know you're here after all."

"I'm just passing on a message from Dr. Takani. I won't be interfering. We promised we wouldn't interfere with each other's lives for a certain time period and that time is not yet expired." That didn't mean he wouldn't casual inquire about her relationship with Yukishiro and try to dissuade such an association.

"That's such B.S. and you know it, Aoshi!" Soujiro gripped Aoshi's upper arm tightly, enough to leave marks. Aoshi could practically feel the capillaries bursting under the pressure. "You don't just stop being friends with someone. You don't 'take a break' from someone you love. Either you're in her life or you aren't. For once why don't you be a man and stop running away from the girl?" Soujiro released his arm with a sigh of disgust. "If you don't step up then someone else will."

Aoshi's jaw tightened at the accusation but he said nothing. It wasn't Soujiro's business. He was doing what was best for both himself and Kaoru—seeing what other options there were in life. They could easily fall into a routine with one another, but he didn't want to live a life with regrets and he wasn't about to let Kaoru have any regrets either. Which is why he needed to make sure she wasn't seeing Yukishiro after he delivered his message about Takani.

Without a word for Soujiro, Aoshi went for the stairs intent in the direction of room 215.

**OOOOOoooooOOOOO**

Kaoru looked down at the blue atrocity in her lap. Maybe Soujiro had meant it for a joke. He'd had Yahiko give her a little gift bag with a 'how to' book about knitting complete with the needles and yarn.

She wasn't even sure if what she was making was a scarf or a snake or maybe just a blue blob. It seemed most likely the latter.

"What are you doing?" Enishi's raspy voice disturbed her thoughts, causing her to jump and drop the knitting supplies. The needles fell to the tiled floor in a clatter. "That's certainly—uh—blue."

"I was trying to learn to knit," Kaoru said huffily stuffing the supplies back in the basket. She'd be sure to give Soujiro a firm hit over the head next time she saw him—out of uniform of course. "How are you feeling?" she asked using her 'sweet' voice and smiling gently at him.

"I've been having dreams of flying without a helicopter with my own little sprite on my shoulder. I guess I'm feeling pretty darn good. You take away the pain meds I imagine I'll be in a fouler mood."

"Good thing you have them then."

Enishi sat up gingerly and shifted in obvious discomfort. "Um, could you help me to the restroom?"

"Why? You have a catheter."

Enishi's eyes narrowed and she was sure he growled at her. "I'm not an invalid. My legs work fine and I'm not about to use this bedpan. If I had dementia and could forget about the embarrassment fine, but as my memory is quite sharp it's not going to happen."

"Well, haven't you been using it?"

"Actually no, if you must know, this will be my first bowel movement. You know how morphine slows the digestive system. Are you going to help me or do I need to do it myself?"

Feeling slightly guilty for chiding him Kaoru moved the stand holding his IV drip and let the rail of the bed down to help him get to his feet. He didn't move.

"Uh, this is embarrassing, but…."

"More embarrassing then me escorting you to the bathroom?"

"I need you to remove the catheter, please."

"What?"

He narrowed his eyes at her. "You put it in, didn't you?"

"Well, yeah, but you were unconscious!"

"I'll close my eyes. Just do it, Kamiya."

"Fine, but turn your head."

"Limited motility, remember?" He growled again. "Whatever. I'll close my eyes. Hurry up." He gripped the edge of his bed tightly and closed his eyes. Apparently he was as anxious about the ordeal as she felt.

"Okay," Kaoru said looking up to make sure his eyes were still closed. She tried to be professional about it. She pulled out a pair of gloves from the box in the wall and snapped them on.

"Less sound effects, please."

"Right," Kaoru said determined not to run out of the room red-faced. She pulled back the thin blanket covering his lower body and then pushed up his gown to his abdomen. She'd seen several men's lower regions in a purely clinical fashion—she was a doctor after all! But, it was different when it was the guy she was falling for. He was—impressive.

"If you could stop assessing the goods and take out the catheter I would appreciate it. If you can't, I can do it myself."

Kaoru quickly did what needed to be done and deflated the balloon and then held his—er--thing with her left hand, she couldn't help but notice the shiver that seemed to travel up his body but worked to ignore it. She pulled out the tube and as it was finally removed Enishi gave a sigh of relief and opened his eyes. Kaoru smoothed down his gown nervously.

"Thanks, it would have been hard to do it myself since I'm not allowed to use one of my arms until tomorrow morning." He slid his legs over the edge of the bed and braced himself on the IV pole a little wobbly on his feet. "An escort, please."

Kaoru pulled off the gloves and tossed them in the room's wastebasket as she came to his side. She wrapped an arm around his waist and helped him to the bathroom. "Do you need any more help?"

Enishi glared at her. "No, I can do this part on my own, thanks." He then slammed the door in her face.

It took a full ten minutes and when he came out he looked a great deal better. His face seemed more energetic and his hair was wet.

"What did you do in there?"

"Impromptu wash up, brushed my teeth, that sort of stuff. It's nice to pee standing up again."

"I'll take your word on that. Let's get you back to bed."

"No."

"What do you mean no? Yes, you're supposed to be in bed!"

"I'm going to get a bedsore if I stay in that thing any longer. I need to go for a walk. And I need you to get me some pants, or else I'm just going to walk around with or without you with my backside exposed to the world." He narrowed his eyes as he continued to look down at her. "And if I pick up some nosocomial infection it will be all your fault."

"What? No! Fine, I'll find you some pants, just, don't go anywhere without me, promise?"

"Sure, Kamiya, I promise," he said with a small smile sitting at the edge of his bed.

She didn't quite trust the look he gave her, but she also didn't think Enishi was the type to purposely embarrass himself. Kaoru hurried to the doctors' lounge at the end of the hall where the scrub machine was located. It was pretty interesting actually; you could rent scrubs from the machine like you could buy a soda. She almost slipped in her money when she cringed. The idea of Enishi wearing used hospital scrubs made her stomach churn. Especially if he didn't have any underwear for underneath.

The medical supply store was on the first floor of the small hospital so she took the stairs, figuring it would be faster than using the elevator.

**OOOOOoooooOOOOO**

It was dark in the stairwell but the light was sufficient enough for placing one's foot before the other. It was not good for avoiding collisions though. The sound of the door on the second floor opening drew his attention and he stood on the inside of the stairs to leave room for whoever was climbing down them.

Two feet of space apparently wasn't enough for the young woman that crashed into his chest. Aoshi barely grabbed the rail with his left hand to steady himself and his right wrapped around the woman's waist. A familiar sight of dark hair followed by her blue eyes made his heart skip a beat.

"Aoshi?" Kaoru asked uncertainly. She reached up her fingers and touched his jaw lightly. "Am I hallucinating?"

"No, I'm here," he said releasing her waist reluctantly and stepping down a step to create more distance between them.

"How?"

"I was on the mission with Seta, Sagara, Yukishiro, and the others," he explained. Her face was flushed—either from her run or embarrassment at literally running into him—and unfortunately for him it was turning him on. "You should really watch the corners when you're running."

"I put in a suggestion that they place mirrors at the corners to make it safer," Kaoru murmured. "You look really good, Aoshi." Her hands clenched into fists at her side. Was she trying as hard as him to resist the urge to touch each other?

"Stress must look good on me," he said with a small smile.

She seemed to ignore the wall of indifference he'd worked to place between them. The next thing he knew Kaoru had wrapped both arms around him and hugged him like her life depended on it. "Idiot! Why didn't you find me before you left for that mission? You could have been killed and I wouldn't have had a clue that your life was even in danger!"

Aoshi's hand seemed to have a mind of its own because it suddenly was cradling the back of her head with his fingers weaved within her silky strands of hair. "We're in the middle of a war, Kaoru. We're at the frontlines and every day that we're in this hot zone both of our lives are at risk."

"I've missed you."

He sighed kissing the top of her head before purposely disentangling himself. "We can't do this, Kaoru. We both agreed. I can't be your crutch and you can't be mine."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm being independent and so are you. That doesn't mean I don't still lo—er, care about you." She hit his chest lightly. "Idiot."

Aoshi's stomach twisted at her words. She still loved him. He wouldn't let her know he reciprocated the feeling. It was for the best. "It was good you ran into me." Kaoru grimaced at his words. "Dr. Takani wanted me to ask if you'd cover her patient load in the clinic tomorrow while she's sitting with Sagara."

Kaoru's eyes grew wide and she grabbed hold of both his arms—unfortunately clamping down on the same bruised area Soujiro had created moments ago. "Is Sano going to be okay? Where is he?"

Aoshi's eye twitched slightly as something akin to jealousy began to make itself known at her obvious concern for the brash young man. It momentarily eclipsed the jealousy he felt at knowing she'd most likely just come from Yukishiro's room. "His surgery was a success, but he's not awoken yet."

"It's going to be busy. I have a full load myself tomorrow and I already said I'd wanted to give Enishi support to help him recover. And I'd like to see Sano myself and…"

"I'll help you. I'm not officially supposed to start clinic work until three days from now, but I've been transferred to this base." Aoshi wanted to kick himself for volunteering. Working alongside Kaoru would completely ruin the whole point of them distancing themselves from one another.

A big grin spread across Kaoru's lips before it vanished completely leaving him to wonder if it really was there or not. "I have to run. I need to get a pair of scrubs for Enishi. Otherwise, he's threatened to run around the hospital naked."

Aoshi's eye twitched again and he stepped out of her way. "By all means, we wouldn't want that."

**OOOOOoooooOOOOO**

The store was almost empty as it would be closing in about ten minutes. She rushed over to the clothes rack and found a pair of maroon scrubs that looked big enough to fit Enishi.

"Dr. Kamiya! I didn't think I'd see you here. How are you? Don't you ever go home?" the cashier said with a friendly smile. Kaoru recognized her as the mother of one of the accident-prone children she dealt with that morning.

"No rest for the weary," Kaoru said setting the scrubs on the counter.

"These are a bit big for you, don't you think?"

"Not for me and if I don't bring them to him he's threatened to walk around naked. That would be too traumatizing for the other patients, so I can't allow that."

"Ah," she said ringing them up. "Must be Captain Yukishiro. I heard about him. Is he going to be okay? I know he can be a jerk, but he's been a real inspiration to my son. When my husband was on a mission for three weeks he would take the boy out to the base arcades. Apparently Captain Yukishiro is one talented laser-tagger."

"I wouldn't put it past him," Kaoru said handing the woman her credit card and shoving the scrubs into a bag herself. "Oh, hold on!" She hurried back to the wall and grabbed a pair of plain grey flip-flops. She wasn't about to let Enishi pick up something gross walking barefoot on the hospital floor. She scribbled her signature, pocketed the card, and ran out of the shop.

By the time she reached the room Enishi was looking out the small window with the back of his gown gaping open. "It's a nice view. It's kind of surprising actually."

"Uh yeah, nice view," Kaoru agreed focused on the man's backside rather than whatever desert scene was outside the window.

Enishi turned toward her. "Are those for me?"

She handed them over and he sat on the edge of the bed putting on the scrub bottoms. He left his gown on top. He dropped the flip flops to the ground and slipped his feet into them. "Shall we?" he asked.

Kaoru opened the door and waited for him to step out. His free hand was wrapped around the IV pole and she moved to walk on his side with the arm in the sling. Enishi's footsteps were small and he shuffled more than he walked.

"How do you feel?" Kaoru asked.

"My legs are a little stiff, but they seem to be getting better the more the circulation gets going. I hate being stuck in bed."

"Your poor mother."

Enishi looked over at her with a frown. "My mother died when I was young. I don't remember her."

Kaoru tried to get her foot out of her mouth figuratively. "I just meant, when you were a kid and sick in bed. You must have been a real handful."

A deep throaty laugh spilled from Enishi's lips. "I was. Thankfully, my sister has the patience of a saint. She's the one that raised me."

They walked in silence slowly down the corridor and past the stairwell. At the end of the floor there was a large window with a view down to the airfield. They stood in front of it and Kaoru found herself lost in thought. She was still having a hard time processing the fact that she'd literally just ran into Aoshi Shinomori—the possible love of her life— in the stairwell. And now she was standing with Enishi Yukishiro the new man in her life that had recently taken centerstage.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Enishi's voice caused her to jump slightly. "No need to be so skittish," he said sounding annoyed.

Kaoru folded her arms over her chest stubbornly. "I'm not skittish. It's just that your voice disturbed the quiet."

"Okay."

"What do you mean, okay?"

"I don't know. I'm injured, remember?"

"Sorry," she huffed letting her arms fall back to her sides. "I ran into my old boyfriend in the stairwell. How weird is that?"

"Not so weird," Enishi said—voice soundly oddly strained. "He was on the same mission as the rest of us."

"You worked with Aoshi?"

Enishi shifted his weight. "Yeah, he did his job eventually but his hesitation is what in my opinion what resulted in Sagara's injuries being as severe as they were…"he trailed off. "Do you know how he is? Sano?"

"Aoshi said his surgery was a success, but he's still not woken up."

"Let's go check on him."

"What? We can't do that! You're a patient!"

"And you're a doctor. Find out where he is." He glared down at her and Kaoru found she couldn't argue with his determination. Frankly, she wanted to know how he was too.

"Fine."

"No need to be in a mood. You can say you were pressured into doing it by your superior officer."

"I'm getting tired of this superior officer speech. I'm only Army reserve, it's not like I'm here to do any fighting."

"Technical detail," Enishi said with a wave of his hand that was holding the IV pole. His balance wobbled slightly and he quickly snatched up the IV pole and righted himself. "Now, if you'd be so kind as to find him before I pass out I would appreciate it."

"Yes, sir," Kaoru muttered turning around to go to the nurses' station and find out where Sanosuke was, but before she could go a step in that direction she felt Enishi's hand close around her arm instead of the IV pole. "What is it now?" she asked irritably.

Enishi closed the distance and no sooner had the words left her mouth than his lips found hers. The kiss started hesitant and when Kaoru closed her eyes and started to melt into it Enishi deepened it with his tongue touching hers playfully before he pulled back with a smile. "Thanks for sitting with me, Kaoru."

A fierce blush claimed Kaoru's cheeks. "No problem. Let me just, um, go find out about Sanosuke, okay?" She took Enishi's hand and placed it back around his IV pole and hurried to the nurses' station.

**OOOOOoooooOOOOO**

The Styrofoam coffee cup was crushed and hot liquid spilled over his clenched fist. Aoshi tossed the cup aside and angrily wiped the coffee off his hand. It shouldn't bother him that Yukishiro had just kissed Kaoru. He was the one that broke up with her. It shouldn't bother him at all.

He'd been at the airfield with Himura discussing a detail of the mission when he happened to look up at the window to the second floor of the hospital. And he just happened to see Kaoru and Enishi standing there talking.

It was no big deal. It wasn't like he didn't know they were involved.

But when Enishi had looked down at him and their eyes met and then Enishi turned around and kissed Kaoru rage was all that went through Aoshi's mind. Pure thoughtless rage.

"Is something wrong?" Kenshin asked with a touch of concern in his voice.

"Everything is fine. Now what were you saying about the discs?"

"I wanted to know if you'd be a part of the analysis team."

"Why?"

"I can't say too many details as this is hardly a secure site. However, there is evidence of biological weapons on the discs and with your having earned a PhD in that field simultaneously as your medical degree I thought you'd be a valuable asset."

"Very well," Aoshi consented. He started toward the hospital intent on sending Enishi back to his hospital room in an unconscious state. His progress was halted by Himura's hand upon his shoulder.

"We need you now, Shinomori."

**TBC**


	14. Chapter 14

**Battle Front: Chapter Fourteen**

Kaoru went to the nurses' station and did a search on Sanosuke's name. He was on the first floor—which wasn't good. That floor was mostly reserved for ICU and the more major traumas. Though, she knew he'd suffered quite a traumatic experience being shot several times, but she'd have felt more confident if he'd been on the second floor.

Her mind was clouded by conflicting emotions. First of all, Aoshi was there! She'd literally run into him in the stairwell and her heart had almost burst with joy at seeing him. And then, not ten minutes later Enishi had kissed her—out of the blue! What was he thinking? Sure, he liked her and they were trying to see if they could tolerate each other while both parties were conscious for more than half an hour, but they weren't like _together_ together. Were they? She needed to ask him just where they stood with one another. But then that would be one of those awkward relationship questions and they weren't actually in a relationship, right?

Or were they?

She groaned in frustration and then shut off that line of thought. There was no time to dwell on her love life or the lack thereof. She needed to focus on Sanosuke!

After writing Sano's room number on a sticky note from the counter and ignoring the nurse's annoyed glare. Kaoru hurried back toward Enishi. He hadn't moved from the window area, but was now leaning against the wall with his eyes closed instead of enjoying the scenic view. His eyes snapped open as she neared him and Kaoru couldn't help but feel transparent as he seemed to probe her with hard eyes.

"You have it?"

Kaoru lifted the sticky note and waved it like a peace flag. "He's downstairs. We can take the elevator; it's not far from here."

Enishi grunted and pushed himself away from the wall. "Guess I'm too crippled to take the stairs right now."

"You're hardly a cripple."

"Right," he said starting to make his way to the elevators.

Kaoru positioned herself to block his path. He arched a snowy white eyebrow at her in question. "Are you going to explain yourself?"she asked.

A slight frown turned the corners of his mouth down. "I'm a complicated man. You'll have to be specific in what area you are requiring an explanation."

"How about that kiss?" Kaoru asked gesturing wildly with her hands toward the window and the sight of the affront—though it wasn't an affront she minded.

"Are you wanting another demonstration? I would be happy to oblige."

"Yes! No! I mean—ugh! That's not what I meant and you know it!" Kaoru blew out a frustrated breath of air. "Why are you kissing me? We're not like _together_ together. We're just like dating and testing the waters."

Enishi again arched an eyebrow at her. "Oh? I was under the impression we were involved."

"We are involved, but we're not in a relationship!"

"We're not?"

"I mean we're in a working relationship and we're friends and I like you, but…" she trailed off.

"But, you're not interested," he dead-panned starting to move past her. "I see."

"I didn't say that!" Kaoru hissed encircling his hand on the IV pole with her own to stop him. "I just, I don't understand you."

"I'm complicated."

"Enishi Yukishiro is complicated. Check. I got that part. But, Kaoru Kamiya is not complicated and she needs some clean-cut answers."

"Could have fooled me. You seem complicated enough."

Kaoru ran her free hand through the tail of her hair in a frustrated jerking movement. "Enishi, give me a straight answer."

"Fine. It's been a while since I've been involved with someone with an IQ above one-hundred who didn't have bleach blond hair and whom I would want to introduce to my sister one day. And then you come along with your carefree ways and caring about people even when they treat you poorly and I want something more than a good dance partner. Does that clarify everything?"

"Enishi," Kaoru said softly rubbing her thumb gently across his knuckles.

He glared down at her possessively. "But I'll be damned if I was going to let you fall for that statue Shinomori. So yes, I told him you were my girlfriend."

Kaoru's jaw slackened and her hand released his and fell to her side. "You told Aoshi?"

"Yes, and now you know," he said gripping his IV pole in a white-knuckled hold and stepping past her. "If you're done discussing your love life, I'd like to visit my friend who's been mortally wounded."

"He's not mortally wounded. That implies he's going to die and Aoshi said that Sano was recovering."

"And Aoshi is always right," Enishi muttered sarcastically. He pressed the down button outside of the elevator forcefully and repetitively.

"It's not going to come any faster if you hit it more often," Kaoru said reaching out for his hand.

Enishi snatched his hand away and focused on the elevator doors as they opened before them. "Maybe not, but it made me feel better," he said stepping inside.

**OOOOOoooooOOOOO**

Megumi shifted in the uncomfortable hospital chair in Sano's room. His surgery couldn't have gone better, but he still hadn't woken up. The other doctors weren't sure why. There were no false reassurances because as a doctor herself the team was stumped and had asked her for her professional opinion on the matter as well. She remained optimistic that he'd wake up soon; because the longer it took him the more negative his outcome.

She squeezed his hand hoping that this time he'd squeeze back. He didn't.

"Come on you stupid rooster head. Wake up already. I don't have time to be wasting watching you sleep. You're making me so worried I'm going to have wrinkles. You do realize the suffrage I will put you under if you give me wrinkles?" She sighed in frustration as even her threats did nothing to change his vitals.

There was a light knock at the door before it opened a crack.

"You better be decent, Sano! I don't want to have to make fun of you for embarrassing yourself," Kaoru called out before opening the door wide enough to look within the room. Her eyes focused on Sano and her playful grin vanished as she took in the seriousness of the situation. She then seemed to notice Megumi. "He's still unconscious?"

"Yeah, he's not woken up. Didn't Dr. Shinomori tell you this?" Megumi asked tiredly.

A large hand fell upon Kaoru's shoulder and she stepped further into the room allowing for Enishi to enter. His weight was heavily balanced against Kaoru while the other hand poked out of a sling and loosely gripped an IV pole.

"Shouldn't you be in bed?" Megumi asked in her authoritative doctor's voice.

"The warden let me out on a supervised parole," he answered in a bored monotone. His eyes landed upon Sano's unmoving form and he grimaced. "He better wake up soon. He's going to be real embarrassed to find out he's been using a bed pan."

"There are more important things than that, Yukishiro," Megumi snapped.

His pale eyes narrowed dangerously at her. "You think I don't know that? I was actually there when he got himself shot." Enishi lifted the elbow of his arm that was in the sling as evidence of his involvement in the conflict.

Kaoru tilted her head back to look at Enishi in the eyes. "There's no need for that. We're all here out of concern for Sano." She gently removed Enishi's hand from her shoulder and guided it to the back of one of the sitting chairs. Kaoru then sat on the edge of Sano's bed. She reached into her pocket for the pen she'd placed there earlier and pulled off the cap and using the long semi-sharp end to pushed it gently against the soft sole of Sanosuke's foot. It twitched slightly.

"Apparently, his nerves are working fine," Enishi observed. He focused his attention on Megumi. "Why are you here?"

Megumi's posture stiffened. "Sano and I are seeing one another. Naturally, I'm concerned."

"Hn. I thought you were being strung along by that Katsu fellow—Sagara's best friend. When did this happen?" Enishi asked.

"A few weeks before your mission. And I wasn't being strung along by Katsu. Things just didn't work out between us," Megumi said folding her arms over her chest defensively.

"By not working out you must mean that it started to bother you about his hitting on anything capable of walking on two legs," Enishi retorted cruelly. "Or even hobbling on one."

"Katsu's not that bad," a voice croaked.

"Sano!" Kaoru and Megumi cried out simultaneously. Kaoru hugged his chest and Megumi was squeezing him around the neck in her embrace.

"Can't breathe," Sano croaked blinking open his eyes.

"How do you feel?" Megumi asked with her voice laced with concern. She ignored the monitors expressing his vital signs and pressed her finger to his carotid artery to feel his pulse, it was blessedly even and strong. She pulled out her penlight and shone it in his eyes to watch his dilatory reflex. Nothing happened. "Sano, can you see me?"

"Sure, just take off these stupid bandages from over my eyes," he answered closing his eyes again.

Kaoru, Megumi, and Enishi all exchanged worried glances.

"Sano, there aren't any bandages," Kaoru said gently brushing her fingers over his closed eyelids.

"That's not an answer I wanted to hear, Missy," Sano said gruffly. "Are you sure?"

Enishi pushed Megumi aside, but not too hard, and stood at her position by Sano's head. He used his good hand to feel along Sano's temples. "Open your eyes again," he instructed.

"Why?" Megumi hissed.

"Ignore the worried females and open your eyes, Sagara," Enishi ordered impatiently.

"Sure, Captain," Sano said blinking his eyes open again. "Still can't see."

Enishi picked up the pitcher of water and handed it to Kaoru with a pointed look. She filled up the unused drinking glass with the lukewarm liquid and handed it back to Enishi. He splashed it at Sano's eyes.

"Hey!" Sano cried blinking furiously.

Enishi took the light from Megumi and flashed it back at Sano's eyes and saw the pupils react though a bit sluggishly. "You're fine. It's all the morphine that is giving your vision trouble adjusting."

Kaoru turned on the harsh florescent lights of the hospital room and Sano turned his head away abruptly.

"Alright, I'm cured. I can see. And now I'm blind again, thanks," Sano grumbled sitting up. He rolled his shoulders back and his vertebrae popped audibly. "I am so stiff."

Kaoru giggled upon catching the red blush spread across Megumi's cheek.

"Jeez, Jou-chan, no need for that dirty mind of yours!" Sano said with his familiar grin. He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. "My vision still isn't that great."

"Glasses aren't the end of the world," Enishi answered sounding bored. He moved away from the head of the bed toward Kaoru. "Alright, Sagara will live. I can go back to my own room now."

"Actually, now that Sano is awake I could probably arrange for the two of you to share a room," Kaoru said with a bright smile.

"You want me to give up my private room so I can share a room with a subordinate?" Enishi asked quietly in disbelief.

"If you and Sano share a room I won't have to worry about whom to visit, because I can see you both at the same time," Kaoru reasoned.

"Yeah, it saves on resources so it's good for the environment and plus then she won't have to worry about being alone with you," Sano chipped in catching onto Kaoru's train of thought, but not being fully cognizant enough to realize which parts shouldn't have been voiced aloud.

"Fan-freaking-tastic," Enishi grumbled.

**OOOOOoooooOOOOO**

The kettle whistled signaling the water had reached a boiling point. Aoshi set aside the document he'd been studying to move it from the burner. He opened the container with his Blooming Tiger tea that he'd had paid high dollar to have imported to the base from back home. He set one of the tea balls in his teapot and transferred the hot water.

He watched as the Jasmine concoction unrolled as the water set in and after three minutes of staring at it blankly poured some of the precious tea into his mug and hoped it would improve his concentration. Aoshi went back to the dining room table that was doubling as his desk in his recently assigned quarters. Apparently, due to housing shortages he'd be rooming with someone by the name of Myojin, but he'd not met the Private yet.

The information on the discs had been converted into a top secret document in the form of a giant three-ring binder. It was disturbing and he found it hard to believe that with all his studies and commitments to saving human life that he'd eventually find himself trying to learn from the human experimentation of biological weapons. It was atrocious. It was the most awful thing. It was a state of national and international security!

And he couldn't retain a single word of what he was reading because his thoughts kept drifting back to a kiss he'd witnessed on the second floor window of the base hospital.


	15. Chapter 15

**Battle Front: Chapter Fifteen**

Kaoru pushed open her door wearily. Her entire body was fatigued thanks to her worry about Sanosuke's health and the frustrating emotional rollercoaster Enishi and Aoshi were sending her through. She shut the door but didn't bother to lock it. Who would walk into a room uninvited in a secure military facility? It had been a long day and night and after sleeping in one of those uncomfortable hospital recliner chairs in Sano and Enishi's room she was ready to release the kinks in her muscles.

It had taken some pleading and tears in the eyes to get the staff to agree but eventually she'd gotten her two guys a shared room. Megumi was on watch and frankly Enishi had started to blatantly ignore her whenever he wasn't sending her one of his brooding looks. He wasn't happy about sharing a room.

But she didn't care that he wasn't happy about it. She'd called in a sick day from work and her number one priority was pouring a warm bath and filling the water with a generous amount of cucumber-melon flavored bubbles. She kicked off her shoes at the door and then went to the bathroom to start the luxurious bath that she completely deserved.

After starting the water and pouring in a good amount of bubbles she went to her bedroom and ran her finger along the little silver rectangle under the keyboard to get her laptop out of standby to check her messages. Her little sister had been instant messaging her for most of the day—or night depending on your time zone perspective—rather persistently on her Facebook. Technically she wasn't supposed to have any Internet, only Intranet for security purposes. However, it would seem that Katsu had a few talents—such as acquiring Internet access for his select group of friends.

Kaoru slipped out of her clothes and covered up with her big, warm, fluffy blue bathrobe and messaged Misao back.

'What's got you so animated?' Kaoru typed.

'Finally! I was making sure you're alive. And I tried calling the emergency number to reach you but whoever I talked to said no one was allowed to talk to anyone at your facility. It's all over the news.'

'How do you know I'm alive? I could be a spy writing this in Kaoru's place.' Kaoru grinned at her own cleverness. Then Misao's words dawned on her. Why would they be on the news? Military business wasn't broadcasted in details to the general public. It would be a huge advantage to the enemy—assuming they received the same international coverage on television and Internet. 'What was in the news?'

'There was a nuclear explosion. Aren't you like irradiated?'

'No…'

'You sure?' Misao asked.

'Pretty sure.'

'Must be a military cover-up. Don't be surprised if you can't leave anytime soon then.'

'I'm here for another several months anyway. It really doesn't matter. I gotta go, there's a bubble bath calling my name.'

'Totally understand. Call me later. Or at least send me an email?'

Kaoru was about to type back when her Internet connection was suddenly lost. It was a strange occurrence, but certainly nothing to worry over. She was in the desert and sandstorms tended to affect the signal.

Kaoru walked away from her desk deciding not to commit herself to either communication with her sister and not stressing herself over why the Internet connection failed. If there was such a story on the news she'd be finding out about it soon, hopefully. The aroma from the bath was refreshing and inviting. Kaoru poured in a little more of the bubble bath solution before shutting off the water. The bathroom mirror was fogged up and the water was just shy of scalding—just the way she liked it.

She dropped the robe on the floor and slid into the bath to give her muscles and mind the relaxation it craved. The mystery behind the news story could certainly wait. She wasn't sure what time it was, but it seemed to be morning given that the sun was up. Kaoru closed her eyes and breathed deeply and felt the tension melt away from her body.

There was a cool breeze, but she thought nothing of it. The air-conditioning probably kicked in. It wasn't until the bathroom door swung open and Aoshi stood there red-faced and angry that she realized she probably should have locked that front door after all.

"Sorry, I thought, there were clothes on the bedroom floor, and I thought…" Aoshi trailed off, his red face turning pale. His eyes didn't leave her form in the bath though.

Kaoru crossed her arms over her chest even though the bubbles were dense enough that her ex-boyfriend couldn't see anything even with his keen vision. "Clothes on the floor, a girl in the bathroom, yes, I can see why that would make you angry. Do you mind not staring?" She grit her teeth in irritation. "I'm kind of naked here."

Aoshi's complexion returned to normal and he leaned comfortably on the door jam. "I noticed."

"Aoshi," she warned.

"Fine," he said with a sigh and looked away. He went and sat at the vanity in front of the mirror.

"You're watching me through the mirror!"

Aoshi shrugged, but didn't deny it.

"What are you doing here? This doesn't seem like distance to me. You want to wait until I'm done with my bath?"

He grinned. "Not really. The scent is soothing."

True, the scent was soothing, but Kaoru suspected his stubbornness was more related to his perverted guy-ness. "And you're here, why?"

"You and Enishi. I saw you kissing him. I thought he was here. And then I saw the clothes on the floor…" he trailed off.

"What business is that of yours?"

"Are you kidding?" Aoshi asked incredulous before turning to face her directly. "We're supposed to have space from another, not testing the waters with other people."

"I thought you said we were supposed to be testing the waters. Actually, I'm pretty sure those were your exact words."

Aoshi folded his arms over his chest and set his jaw. "Well then I retract the aforementioned statement."

"You can't retract a statement like that!"

"The bubbles are starting to fade."

"Ugh!" Kaoru shouted grabbing her robe and covering herself while getting the terry cloth soaked in the process. "How can I possibly enjoy my bath with you here now?"

Aoshi's eyebrow quirked up. "Are you serious?"

"We are broken up. Now, why are you here really? And get out of my bathroom while I'm getting dressed." She grabbed the bar of soap in the dish on the side of the tub and threw it at him.

He easily evaded the projectile and the soap hit the wall in a dull thud. "In what? There are no clothes in here."

"That's because they're in my room. And you're not supposed to be here. I'm supposed to be free to walk around my apartment butt-naked if I should so desire."

"With the front door unlocked? That's certainly inviting trouble."

"Obviously! Seeing as you're here! Trouble!"

"I can see this conversation is going no where. Why don't you get dressed? I'll wait in the living room. With the front door locked."

"Yeah, why don't you do that?"

**OOOOOoooooOOOOO**

Enishi covered one of his ears with his free hand and growled. "Why would they sound that ridiculous siren? I'm in the hospital for Pete's sake. Can't I have a little peace?"

"You can have all the peace you want. When you're dead," Sano said laughing at his own cleverness.

The door to their shared room opened and Megumi rushed in with a worried expression. "We're on lock-down. No outside communication is allowed."

"The mandatory silence isn't anything to worry about. We're at war. It happens," Enishi explained. "However, the lock-down part is a bit unorthodox. I'm not sure I'm familiar with the protocol."

"That's because it never happens," Sano said pushing himself up to sit straight in his bed. "You think this means we're being infiltrated?"

"I have no idea, but we can't stay like sitting ducks in this room ready to be picked off. They always go for the hospital first." Enishi ripped off the sling around his arm and tested its strength. It was weak, but functional. He then began to unhook his IV lines. He was just grateful to not have a catheter. He did not want to ask Takani for help if he could avoid it!

"Paranoid much?" Sano asked.

The lights flickered and then went out. The backup red lights illuminated the hospital sector. Then there was the sound of a woman screaming—one of the nurses? Perhaps it was a scream out of shock of being plunged into darkness. Or perhaps it was something more.

Megumi began to unhook Sanosuke from his IV lines. "Sometimes the paranoid ones are right. I hate to do this prematurely, but I really don't want to risk angry men with guns coming in here and putting more holes into you. I've got to be back at work tomorrow and I won't have time to patch you up."

Sano gave her a sloppy grin. "Just prop me against a sturdy wall, give me a gun, and tell me which direction to shoot at. I'll do just fine."

"With as much pain killers as you are on I doubt if you even have clear vision. More likely you'll shoot yourself in the foot," Enishi said. He went to the closet where the scrubs and t-shirt Kaoru had gotten him were located and put on the pants under his gown before shucking the gown and putting on the t-shirt. He then pulled out Sano's civilian clothing and held it out to Megumi. "Help him get dressed while I see if I can find out what's going on out there."

"Yukishiro?" Sano called, causing Enishi to pause at the door. "Don't get dead, okay? It would really upset Missy.

**OOOOOoooooOOOOO**

"Sir," Soujiro whispered coming up behind Kenshin. "I found the point of infiltration in this sector."

"Good work, Seta," Himura said. He pushed the speak button on his ear piece and contacted Saitou. "General, we've located three points of infiltration. I recognize these men, sir. They are part of an elite faction led by the International Terrorist Shishio Makoto."

"Take out the fodder, Himura. But we want Shishio alive for interrogation. He works for a bigger fish and that's the man we want," Saitou ordered.

"Roger that," Kenshin said ending the call. He turned to Soujiro. "Our first priority is the protection of the civilians and the biological department. There is some sensitive research information that we cannot risk falling into the hands of terrorists. Understood?"

"Yes, sir. What about the invaders?"

"I'll handle them."

A smile spread across Soujiro's lips. "I suppose its true then. You really are a one-man army, sir."

"I'm no army. I'm an assassin."

**OOOOOoooooOOOOO**

Kaoru had just slipped on her shoes when the lights went out. She hurried into the den where Aoshi waited. "Did you hit a breaker or something?"

"Your station doesn't normally do drills like this do they?" Aoshi asked at the same moment. They looked at each other in the dim gray light. "And why would I know where your breaker is?"

"I don't know. Maybe you're not really the Aoshi I knew, but a ninja spy impersonating him. And that being the case it is only logical to assume you'd know where the breaker would be located."

"Ridiculous."

Kaoru pondered the events of late. Not only had several of the people she cared about been involved in a dangerous mission, but her Internet connection was suddenly severed, and now the electricity was cut off. Could that all be related? It was war, so why wouldn't it be related?

Aoshi gripped Kaoru's elbow. "We can hash out our relationship later. I need to go to the lab. There is some sensitive data there and we need to make sure it's not been stolen or compromised. I haven't even had time to fully comprehend its importance, but I know we can't let it be taken."

"If it's sensitive data, why are you trying to take me?"

"Because I'm not about to leave you alone here when something dangerous could be happening."

"Or maybe it's just a bad sandstorm," Kaoru suggested causing Aoshi to take pause and consider the more plausible situation.

"This facility runs on generators. A sandstorm should be irrelevant."

The voice of General Saitou came over the loudspeaker. "This is a code Red Tango. Act accordingly."

"Red Tango? Sounds like a dance," Kaoru said. "What's he talking about?"

Aoshi blinked at her incrediously. "Didn't you even read that pamphlet they gave us before we came here with the various codes in it?" Kaoru merely stared at him blankly. "It's an emergency transmission. This compound has been invaded. And we are to arm ourselves accordingly and report to our stations for duty."

Kaoru groaned. "Why did I sign up for this?"

"So you can live debt free," Aoshi said snagging her elbow once again. "I'm pulling rank here. I've been made part of a sensitive security issue and I need your assistance."

"Does that mean we're going to your station? The only station I can think I should report is maybe the clinic."

"You're coming with me."

"I don't have any weapons. What am I supposed to do? Cry at them?!"

"We'll stop by my quarters first. I have something that might interest you."

"I'm not interested in anything in your quarters," Kaoru said stubbornly folding her harms over her chest.

"For the love of--!" Aoshi ran his fingers through his short crop of hair in frustration. "I have a bo-staff that you might like to use."

"And what are you going to use? Your wit?"

"Actually, I have a pair of swords I'm going to use."

"Like Deadpool?"

"But without the running commentary. Come! We've wasted enough time."

**OOOOOoooooOOOOO**

Enishi grit his teeth from the discomfort. He didn't realize how badly his arm hurt. It seemed that those pain medications were more than candy after all and now that they were out of his system he sorely missed their presence.

Saitou's announcement didn't do much to change his destination. He couldn't fight off bad guys without a weapon. And he didn't think his biting sarcasm would be particularly effective in this situation. Seeing as he was hospitalized technically he didn't have to heed Saitou's request. There were plenty of other soldiers for Saitou to command.

He needed a weapon!

The sound of men talking down the hall caused him to pause before turning the corner. He didn't recognize the language—which was probably a bad sign. He sneaked a peak around the corner and was disturbed by what he saw. One was a short feminine looking man with a large scythe and the other was a huge man with a white turban around his head who looked like a priest that ate a bus—or maybe just a large horse.

They certainly didn't look like his comrades and if his arm wasn't practically useless and he had a weapon he was fairly confident he could take them down by himself without a problem. It would be a bit more challenging as things were, but he'd still do it though.

He needed a weapon and looked behind him at the wall in search of something that might be useful. All he could see was a fire extinguisher. It would have to suffice.

Enishi carefully lifted it from its position and tried to read the directions but the red light was too distracting and he gave up. He'd just have to wing it. He readied the nozzle and rushed forward. As soon as the one with the scythe saw him he sprayed him in the eyes with the white foam and then took the opportunity to take out the larger man, but he'd already turned away to avoid the foam. Which turned out to be an even better option because strapped to his back was a large sword.

Enishi hit the large man with the metal fire extinguisher in the back of the head before throwing it at the smaller man with the scythe. The latter's weapon clattered to the ground as he tried to catch the projectile object. Enishi stole the sword off the larger man's back and then hit him upside the skull with the pommel.

"The bigger they are," he muttered as the man crashed to the ground in a dazed heap. He then focused on the angry small man who had picked the scythe back up and was taking a vicious swing. Enishi managed to block the weapon with his newly acquired sword. "I don't believe you were invited to our party."

"No they weren't," Himura's familiar voice interrupted. A dart rushed past Enishi's side and embedded itself in the foreign man's neck. He joined his ally—the giant horse-eater— by crumpling to the floor. "Impressive for a one-armed man," Kenshin said looking up at Enishi with a slight twinkle of humor in his eye.

"I take it that wasn't a fatal dart, right?"

"Need information more importantly than bodies to deal with."

"Is the situation contained?"

"Working on it. There were three points of infiltration and we've just taken care of the second one."

Enishi relaxed. It was already over. "Seta taking care of the third?"

"No, he took care of the first. You and I will take care of the third."

"You want my assistance?"

"No, but I don't want to explain to Tomoe you getting yourself killed over here while there was something I could do about it."

"Why you arrogant son of a –"

Kenshin raised his hand to silence Enishi. And as he was the superior officer Enishi reluctantly zipped his lips—metaphorically speaking. "Captain Yukishiro, I'd like you to assist me in securing the labs two levels down from our current position."

Enishi tested the sword he'd just acquired. It would work even if it was a bit awkward to manage with only one good arm. Himura stepped past him and shot another dart into the chest of the man Enishi had already set unconscious before he spoke into his headset to inform Seta of their position and to clear up the prisoners.

Enishi tried to see Himura's weapon and it reminded him of the cross-bow weapon of France's elite forces. "I don't suppose you have an extra?"

Himura continued to walk and completely ignored his question.

**OOOOOoooooOOOOO**

Sano was breathing heavily, but he wasn't sure if that was from the pain or the excitement. It didn't matter to him that they were being invaded. What mattered was that he'd finally be able to get some action again. He was sorely disappointed when Soujiro rushed past him and then turned back toward him.

"You can go back to your room, Sagara," Soujiro said. He then turned to Megumi with a friendly smile that was meant to be reassuring. "This area has been secured, Dr. Takani."

"How about the other areas? Is Kaoru secure?" Megumi asked.

The smile slipped off Soujiro's lips. He looked past Megumi and Sano and was surprised to find that Kaoru wasn't with them. If something happened to Kaoru, Misao would never forgive him. Marry him? Probably. However, she'd make his life miserable until the 'death do us part' became a reality. "Is she back at your apartment?"

"She was. I have no idea where she is now. And apparently, neither do you."

"Did Enishi go with her?" Soujiro asked.

"Apparently you don't know where he is either," Megumi said with a role of her eyes. "The military is so inefficient."

"Hey lady, Uncle Sam is paying your checks so don't be such a harpy," Sano said. He yawned wide and then cringed in discomfort as the movement strained some neck muscles. "Is there anything I can do? Or am I still officially out of commission."

"You can get hooked back up to your IVs and listen to what your doctor has to tell you. You're off duty for at least the next week, Sagara," Sourjiro answered. "Don't stress yourselves. I'll find Kaoru."


	16. Chapter 16

**Battle Front: Chapter 16**

If she hadn't felt like a soldier earlier when she was almost attacked outside of the base on a simple run then she certainly felt like one now. Kaoru followed closely behind Aoshi toward the laboratory with her bo-staff securely held and ready for action. Unfortunately, she felt more like a cosplay participant than a trained soldier. A summer at officer's training bootcamp hardly prepared her for any practical application of engaging in hand-to-hand combat.

"So what exactly is this sensitive biological information?" Kaoru asked quietly. Their silent stalking was unnerving her. A few words would make all the difference, but then again it could also make them an easy target. Maybe she should have just kept her mouth shut.

Aoshi glanced over his shoulder at her and merely raised his brow making her really wish she'd just kept her mouth shut. He wore the two swords he mentioned strapped across his back and if she didn't know him better she'd think maybe he really was some sort of ninja assassin. It was hard to believe he was the same guy she used to play with at the beach not too many months ago. She was aware that he had a third degree black belt in Karate from before he started college-apparently you can do that when you start at five years old. However, he never really trained as far as she knew during their college tenure together-unless you counted the one semester of Kendo they both took for their kinesiology elective sophomore year.

'Right, if you told me you'd have to kill me,' she mouthed with a roll of her eyes.

'Exactly,' he mouthed back.

She kept her mouth shut after that not wanting to draw any enemy interest in their direction. Hopefully, they were just being overly cautious, but she'd rather be safe than sorry any day.

They were traveling deep within the bowels of the base into unknown territory for her. Of course, if the territory wasn't on the way to the clinic our her residence then the likelihood of her traversing it was extremely slim. It was more than a little annoying to learn that Aoshi had been chosen instead of her to be part of this secret biological study. Her grades in both biochemistry and microbiology had both been superior to Aoshi's. As a matter of fact, she'd been his tutor! However, an A is an A. Who cares if she was the one to blow the curves in undergraduate school. In their medical school Aoshi had been number one and she'd been number three. If she hadn't missed three lectures on pathophysiology due to a horrible stomach virus she'd caught she could have beaten him.

Aoshi stopped abruptly and it took all of Kaoru's much pre-occupied attention to avoid running into him. He looked down at her with a scowl. "Stay focused," he whispered.

Kaoru's eyes narrowed at the insinuation. How dare he tell her to stay focused! She was focused! Her mind was only wandering a little and it was a completely relevant subject and she'd avoided hitting him when he stopped. What more could he expect?

It was then that the smallest of sounds caught her attention. It was like a heavy object compressing from behind the wall to her right.

Aoshi gestured toward the wall and mouthed, 'That's the lab.'

Kaoru tightened her hold on her weapon and Aoshi pulled his twin swords off his back and approached the door. It was a dark grey inside but there was some illumination from the florescent lights that backlit the laboratory.

Aoshi eased open the door and Kaoru followed after him. The loud compression sound muffled any noises their entrance might have made. In the far corner there were three men standing around what looked like a large safe. The compression sound came from that area where the safe's front was being pried apart. Two of the men had machine guns strapped over their shoulders and the third stood arrogantly looking down with his arms folded over his chest-most likely he was the leader and in a supervisory role.

Aoshi had his swords poised and Kaoru had her bo-staff positioned as they approached. He signaled with his chin and Kaoru sent her staff crashing down upon the skull of the man to the right. He fell to the ground unconscious and Aoshi used his sword to remove the other armed man's gun by slicing the strap and flinging it across the room. He then held a sword to each of the men's throats.

"Move and I let my hand slip," he said warned.

"What an unexpected turn of events," the man in the middle said. His eyes were unnaturally red in the weak light and his dark hair was tied back into a messy pony tail at the top of his head. He was tall and strong and Kaoru could literally feel power radiating off the man. He glanced down at the blade at his neck with a sense of boredom until his eyes looked over toward Kaoru. "Very unexpected."

"Back away from the unit," Aoshi ordered.

"Are you worried we might recover this?" the red-eyed man asked holding a binder in his hand. "I admit, English is not my first language, but I can understand very well." His eyes flickered back toward Kaoru and in his other hand he whipped out a dagger and somehow moved away from Aoshi's sword, a red line of blood formed across his neck but it didn't stop him as he shoved the knife into Kaoru's right lung.

The bo-staff fell out of Kaoru's limp fingers as a horrible pain built up in her chest as her lung collapsed. She would have fallen to the ground except the man had maneuvered himself behind her and held her body against his firm chest.

Aoshi kept the sword at the other man's throat and mirrored the red-eyed man's stance but with his hand wrapped around his throat from behind. "Let her go and I'll let you escape with that binder."

"No you won't," the man answered. "You'll shoot me in the back like the coward you are, American scum."

"Let her go, Shishio," Aoshi growled. He pressed down on his hostage's carotid artery and the man fell unconscious to the floor beside Kaoru's victim. He then held both his swords at the ready.

"Such terrible manners, American. We are not friends and not on first name basis. Though I would enjoy being on first name basis with this one," Shishio said licking his tongue across Kaoru's exposed neck. "Perhaps she will be the one to read to me stories of biological warfare and the horrors that your country has created for the safety of the world."

Kaoru caught Shishio's eyes flicker behind Aoshi and that was when she saw Soujiro Seta, her future brother-in-law, appear out of the shadows. An overwhelming feeling of relief washed over her. Unfortunately, that feeling quickly vanished and turned to horror when Soujiro proceeded to shoot Aoshi in both quads from behind. Aoshi fell to the ground with his face contorted in pain but held his swords with a glare of pure hatred toward Shishio. That glare was redirected behind him at Soujiro as Aoshi looked toward where he'd been attacked from.

"Sorry, doc," Soujiro said with a bright smile as he used the butt of his gun to hit Aoshi on the base of his skull, Aoshi slumped to the floor unconscious and Soujiro then kicked away the two swords. He looked over toward Shishio. "Makato, sir, you didn't have to stab her."

"She'll live, Seta," Shishio said. He tossed him the binder and then lifted Kaoru into his arms. She couldn't protest as it was becoming harder and harder to breath as she could feel her chest cavity filling with fluid. It needed to be released or else she'd suffocate on her own blood. Her eyes drew down to Aoshi in panic and then up at Soujiro. She'd known him for years! How could he be part of the enemy?

"Don't worry, Kaoru-chan," Soujiro said with his horrible smile. She didn't recognize the look in his eyes one bit. "Master Makato will take very good care of you."

**OOOOOoooooOOOOO**

Enishi crouched down to check Shinomori's pulse. He wouldn't cry if Kaoru's ex-lover were no longer part of the living world, but alas, he was alive with a strong and steady heart rate. Himura had started to tie up the other two unconscious men while Enishi searched for the source of all the blood making the tile slick. He found two bullet holes through Aoshi's quadriceps muscles and grimaced. That man had quit a bit of rehabilitation in store for him after he recovered. Hopefully the nerves had been missed. The arteries were unharmed or else he'd have bled out by now.

"What the hell happened here?" Enishi said opening up the medical kit located in the cabinets in the room. He pulled out a bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide and some bandages. He crouched back over Aoshi, ripped the pants out of the way of the wound and flushed the area with Hydrogen Peroxide. He cringed in sympathy at all the bubbles and then started wrapping the wounds with the bandages.

After tying the bandages off Enishi hosted up Aoshi over his shoulder intent on getting him out of there. He strained under the man's deadweight, but didn't show any outward signs of discomfort. He couldn't help but think such actions would gain him brownie points with Kaoru for being chivalrous even to a rival.

"The data is gone. Shishio's mission was accomplished," Himura said. "Shinomori will be able to tell us more when he wakes up from his little nap."

"Hardly a nap, Himura. The man has been knocked unconscious." Enishi looked around the scene and noticed a trail of blood leading toward the ventilation shafts and away from the unconscious bodies. Surely, the enemy didn't infiltrate through the ventilation shafts-that was so cheesy 80's movie themed. "Either Shinomori stuck one before he got away, or they have a hostage." He didn't want to think about who that hostage might be, but he had a distinct suspicion that he wouldn't like the answer. The other areas of the base were secure and Kamiya was still missing.

"Let's go Captain," Himura said leading the way out of the room. "It's time we talk with the General and see if the security cameras caught anything."

"We're in the secret lab and there are security cameras here? Security cameras that people can hack into?" Enishi asked skeptically.

Himura shrugged. "It was deemed unlikely that enemies that are hiding in caves out in this desert have the capabilities to hack into sophisticated government computer networks."

"Obviously, you never heard of Ironman," Enishi said shifting Aoshi's weight and heading out of the lab and back into the hallway.

"And Captain do try and refer to me by my title when in the presence of our superior officer," Himura said leading the way.

"Yes, sir," Enishi muttered.

**OOOOOoooooOOOOO**

Misao laughed and clapped her hands as her favorite patient walked across the room by herself unassisted. It was slow and her steps wavered a bit unsteadily and when she reached the far end of the wall with the handrails attached across like a ballet bar she collapsed against them covered in sweat. But she did it all on her own!

"Tomoe! You did it!" Misao rushed toward her patient and the taller woman wrapped her in a big hug using the physical therapist as a bit of a crutch at supporting her exhausted weight. "Your husband and brother will be so proud!"

Tomoe smiled at her weakly. "Enishi will be very glad," she agreed in a strained voice. Misao decided it best not to mention the omission of her husband's reaction. She'd noticed he'd been trying the tough love tactic and that route often led to hurt feeling and little positive results and unfortunately-divorce.

"Come on," Misao said wrapping an arm around Tomoe's waist and helping her to the covered bench to rest. "We'll have you lifting free weights for a few minutes."

"Very well. And you can tell me all about your lovely fiance who sent you such lovely flowers," Tomoe said gesturing towards the large bouquet that had been delivered earlier that afternoon.

Misao set Tomoe up on the bench and gave her the five pound weights for her to start doing reps with them. Her eyes settled upon the lovely arrangement Soujiro had sent. "There's nothing like 'Just Because' flowers," Misao agreed loving the smell and colors of the multicolored roses.

"It's been my experience that roses are for anniversaries and huge apologies. 'Just Because' flowers usually end up being something like Tulips or Orchids or Lilies or Sunflowers," Tomoe said concentrating on curling the blue dumb bell. "You sure your Beau didn't do something and you just don't know yet?"

"Don't be ridiculous. If he did something my sister would tell me in a heartbeat. They're stationed together now."

"That desert weather sun just can't be good for dear Enishi's complexion," Tomoe fretted. She reached up and pulled her dark hair out of its high pony tail and shook out the long tresses. "I think I'll be going home now. I really enjoyed our session, Misao."

**OOOOOoooooOOOOO**

Today was officially the worst day of all of Kaoru's twenty-seven years. She'd thought Junior year at the university was the worst with studying for the MCAT, but no, she'd have to say that being stabbed in the chest made today much worse-especially when her beloved brother-in-law was working for the monster that just stabbed her. And then having the megalo-manic that stabbed her and was a world renown terrorist carry her bridal style through the desert was just the icing on the cake.

She tried her best not to pass out. If she lost consciousness she feared she might bleed to death. But in spite of her best intentions somehow she'd traveled from Aoshi's secret biological laboratory to the underground bunker of a war criminal deep in the mountains.

What woke her up was a burning sensation as opposed to the intense pressure she'd felt earlier where she was stabbed. She looked down to see that she was tied securely with ropes - her arms were going numb from lack of circulation behind her back and her legs were secured against the legs of the wooden chair. Her side had been doctored-crudely-but effectively.

"Don't worry, it will only be a little scar," Shishio said crouching in front of her looking directly at the bandaged wound.

Kaoru gathered her saliva intent on spitting in his face but found herself too parched to make the attempt. He seemed amused by her failed effort.

"I won't help you," she hissed. "My friends will come for me."

"Of course they will," Shishio said with a mocking pat on her shoulder. "That's why its taken them months to find my hide-out." He looked over at Soujiro. "Oh wait, only he found it and that's because he works for me."

"I trusted you!" Kaoru shouted in a hoarse voice. She stared in bewilderment at the young man she had trusted not only her life with but that of her sister and Misao's happiness and future.

Soujiro merely smiled at her. It was like he was a total stranger. And she was much more scared of Soujiro and his manic smile than of the terrorist Shishio.

"As much as I hate to disfigure the lovely face of a woman I'll make an exception for an American," Shishio said rearing back his hand and slapping Kaoru across the cheek. Her face jerked all the way in the other direction and she could feel the fiery sensation burning across the nerve endings and the crushing beginnings of a bruise from burst capillaries. It was then that she noticed the burns that scarred the once handsome face of her captor. "I am familiar with American military torture courtesy of the one known as Battousai, but I see no need for permanent scars-yet." He reared back his other hand.

"What do you want?" Kaoru yelled before he could hit her again. "Even if I knew anything I wouldn't tell you, scumbag!"

"Nothing you can tell me," Shishio said. "And calling me a scumbag isn't much incentive for me to play nice." He slapped the other side of her face.

Kaoru felt the chair lose balance with the force of the blow and fell onto her side her arm tied behind her back taking the brunt of it. Shishio stood towering over her and then brought the tip of his toes crashing into her ribcage. She felt something snap at the force and the pain in her arm was quickly forgotten.

"Sir," Soujiro said quietly. "If she knows anything. Let me find out."

"Very well, Seta. I know you're very capable." He grinned at his accomplice. "Make it look good for the youtube video."


	17. Chapter 17

**Battle Front: Chapter 17**

Kaoru bit the inside of her lip in an effort to keep the tears from spilling from her eyes. There was no way she'd give these men the satisfaction of making her cry. And even if she did know anything useful she'd rather die than tell these dishonorable men any sort of valuable information.

The door shut behind Shishio and the room was silent aside from the sound of her pounding heart, the wheezing of her chest, and Soujiro's quiet breathing. He knelt in front of her and brushed aside the dark strands of hair that had fallen across her eyes. Kaoru glared at him with narrowed eyes and waited for his fingers to get close to her mouth and she snapped her teeth-just missing crunching down on his digits.

"Now, now, Kaoru, no need to be unsociable," Soujiro said reaching behind her and balancing the chair back into a sitting position. He checked the ropes and kept them secured around her wrists and ankles but he did loosen them just enough that circulation flowed a bit more freely.

"Traitor," Kaoru hissed.

He smiled at her gently-not his manic crazed smile from earlier. "Don't lose that spark. We'll need it for the video."

Kaoru reared her head back as far as she could manage hoping to make it appear she wanted to distance herself and then she flung her head forward with all her strength and slammed her skull into Soujiro's forehead. He staggered back with a surprised expression and rubbed the frontal portion of his skull gingerly. "You can't seriously be thinking of broadcasting a torture scene of an American soldier over youtube. That won't accomplish a thing!"

"It will go viral and show the world to take Shishio seriously. It's not the viewers on youtube we're concerned about reaching but when the news stations get a hold of it you'll be on CNN and BBC and the like." He placed his hands on her shoulders and kept himself out of reach. "And we both know you're not a soldier, Kaoru my dear sister."

"You can't get away with this." She turned her face towards his arm on her right and attempted to bite him again, but he was just out of range.

"Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me," he mocked. He let go of her shoulders and moved behind her and placed his lips right near her ear. "We have to make this look convincing. Pretend I threatened you with something horrifying and I promise we'll both get out of this heroes."

Kaoru's eyes widened and her lip quivered. It wasn't hard to pretend she was scared out of her mind. Did she trust Soujiro whom she had known for years? Or did she keep caution on her side-hope for the best and expect the worse? Aoshi would save her-wouldn't he? Of course, her future brother-in-law had shot him down and that scenario wasn't the most promising.

Soujiro pressed his finger against her carotid artery and Kaoru felt the blood pressure going to her brain drop dramatically. It was a pressure hold-known by followers of Spock from Star Trek, highly educated Martial Artists, and Xena the warrior princess. As her vision faded and her conscious thought began to diminish it wasn't Aoshi's face that she saw before her mind's eye but a man with a shock of white hair, bright turquoise eyes, and a grim expression.

**OOOOOoooooOOOOO**

Enishi sat in one of the chairs across from General Saitou's desk with his brother-in-law Himura on his right in the other chair. Aoshi had woken up for a grand total of two minutes before he was drugged up with morphine so that he could tolerate the bullet wounds and be rushed off to surgery. He had confirmed what they all ready knew about Makoto breaching security and leaving with the sensitive biological warfare data and Kaoru as a hostage.

What was unexpected was to learn that Soujiro Seta was the one that had shot Shinomori in the legs and had helped with the infiltration of the system.

"Before you two go off on a vendetta to rescue Kamiya and the data and destroy Makoto and Seta you need to know what really happened," General Saitou said calmly leaning in his chair and lighting up a cigarette.

"Sir, this is a non-smoking facility," Kenshin said flicking his eyes in the direction of the 'non-smoking' sign emblazoned on the wall right behind Saitou's desk.

Saitou purposely let loose a puff of smoke directed towards Himura's face. If he was hoping to get a rise out of the calm red-head he was disappointed because Kenshin merely gazed back at him expressionless.

"We're listening, sir," Enishi said. He wasn't known for his patience. He might not have been as short tempered and foolish as Sagara, but he preferred action to passivity any day. His piloting skills were often needed in various top secret missions and if there ever was a missing he needed to be on the need to know list it was this one.

"It's unfortunate that Kamiya was captured, but she does stand a better chance of survival than if anyone else had been taken hostage. Seta is a double agent. He infiltrated Makoto's organization approximately eight months ago and was being used by the terrorist as a means to gain the sensitive biological warfare research that was stolen earlier."

"What century are in, sir? That we'd store such important data in a binder out in the open? No computer discs? No encryption codes? No security cameras?"

"I'm well aware that we're in the twenty-first century, Captain Yukishiro. Shishio believes what he has are notes by the brilliant scientist team that he can utilize for his own research purposes. It's an elaborate rouse with the explicit purpose to capture Makoto in his own compound and destroy his support system entirely. And there were cameras-they were also stolen most likely to film his hostage being tortured. Makoto is a resourceful man."

"He's not an idiot, sir. Surely he knows there would need to be more to it than a journal?" Enishi pressed.

"Of course, within the binder are two minidiscs with over 50 Gigabytes of valuable biological information-at least that's what it looks like," Saitou explained looking at Enishi through narrowed wolf-like eyes as if explaining things to a three-year old. "In actuality, as soon as he begins to look through that information he'll have implanted a ghost virus into his mainframe that will both destroy his data and supply us a means to copy anything useful into our system before it erases in his. He won't even realize this has happened until its all ready over."

"And you're telling us all this, why, General?" Himura asked. "It sounds like you have everything under control."

"Why do you think I sent for you, Battousai? This mission was your true reason for coming." Saitou looked back toward Enishi. "And I wouldn't be able to keep the Captain out of this unless I killed him now that Kamiya has been involved. That is the reason you are both in the know."

"What are our orders, sir?" Enishi asked quietly musing over everything. If he wanted to play spy games he would have joined the CIA. He was in the Army-dammit! His job was to fly helicopters and save his fellow soldiers and occasionally shoot the bad guy. Spies, biological warfare data, and encrypted codes were not his forte. Or at least, they weren't his chosen forte. He'd been in these sorts of missions before but prior to this his need to know had been the drop off and pick up locations for his passengers.

**OOOOOoooooOOOOO**

Megumi was the first assistant on Shinomori's surgery. The Chief of Surgery was doing the operation and it was always a personal mission when the surgical patient was a fellow doctor. They couldn't afford to have any mistakes because every doctor was a precious commodity in the middle of the war-torn desert.

The sharp clink of the bullet hitting the metal bowl drew her attention to the surgeon's hands. They were confident and sure. Megumi looked down at her hands delicately yet firmly holding the surgical instruments to give the wound a better visual-they were also confident and sure. How could she be so confident about life and death and not be able to make sure strides in the romance department? She'd been with Katsu for a while, but the whole time she'd really been in love with Sano-but she didn't think he met her standard.

What exactly was her standard? If she reviewed her previous relationships her typical boyfriend had been an arrogant, handsome jerk who was only interested in her body. It wasn't until she met Kaoru and had a real female friend and was able to see how she casually interacted with Sano that she had her eyes opened for the first time.

Maybe, Sanosuke was _the_ one. Shouldn't _the one_ be different from the rest? She retracted the medical instruments from Aoshi's bullet wound after the surgeon had cauterized the bleeding blood vessels-no major arteries were hit and it was a relatively simple surgery. Her gaze went towards the young doctor's face. She'd seen the pictures in Kaoru's bedroom of her and Aoshi. Was he the one for her? She'd also seen the way Enishi and Kaoru fought and the fierce look on Enishi's face when he went looking for Kaoru fearing her in danger.

As they began to close up the wounds and finish the surgery Megumi pondered the strangeness of life. She liked Shinomori and he and Kaoru obviously had a good history. But Megumi knew that Sagara was the man for her and she had a sneaking suspicion that Yukishiro just might be the man for Kaoru. She'd known the captain for a couple of years and he was different around Kaoru. At first it was bitter rivalry that she sensed between the two.

Now, she was afraid it was something so intense that neither knew what to do and with Kaoru missing-abducted-she feared she'd lose the chance to see if her friend ever got to have her happy ending.

Megumi scrubbed out of the surgery and Aoshi was moved down the hall into recovery. She made her way to the locker rooms to change and then she would go see Sano. It might be against protocol, but she didn't care. He needed to know the truth of what happened to _their_ friend. And perhaps that Yahiko boy that Kaoru seemed to like so much-he should know too.

**OOOOOoooooOOOOO**

Kaoru awoke with the taste of copper in her mouth. She blinked her eyes open and her vision was gray and blurred. She ached all over and there was a flashing red light that drew her attention. Was that what had woken her up? As her vision cleared she realized the red light was attached to a camera and she was being filmed. Was it time to grace youtube all ready?

"Awake are you?" Shishio asked. He was across the room leaning against the wall reading through the stolen binder. "Interesting stuff in here. I don't see your name as one of the authors for the research so I doubt you know anything useful."

"You're foolish to think the American military would be stupid enough to make things this easy for you capture?"

Shishio laughed. "Easy? Why it was child's play! The problem with you Americans is you are arrogant. If you had any brains between you - you would put such valuable data in a locked vault with security codes of impeccable fortitude. Instead you leave it out on the table and hidden within something so obvious to find the true treasure." He snapped the binder shut and started to stalk towards her like a hungry predator in the Sahara. "But I am smarter than you Americans think. I found the hidden discs and my men are working now to crack your codes. You Americans are fools! I will destroy the weak from your population. You should thank me for eliminating your weak to make room for the strong!"

"Forgive me for lacking your enthusiasm," Kaoru said blandly. "I am, after all, a simple-minded American woman."

"True, but Seta seems attached to you. I won't be killing you off as I had originally planned." He looked her up and down, his dark eyes red in the dim light and showing a glint of madness. "But really, what use have you for legs? I say we chop them off like in the American author Stephen King's book Misery. A woman has no need to walk when she can be carried." He leaned over her placing his hands on her shoulders as Soujiro had done earlier, but too far away for her to headbutt. "Or crawl."

There weren't many times in Kaoru's life that she'd been scared. But this qualified as a level of absolutely terrified. "And then I'll die of infection and Seta will be pissed."

Shishio pulled away and walked back to the wall to look at the binder once more. "Perhaps, but I do not care about the feelings of my associates. I just want to be entertained." He looked her over again and this time instead of madness glittering in his dark eyes it was unmistakable lust. "Or perhaps I could find something else to do with you that would involve you keeping all your parts intact."

Pride almost had Kaoru shouting, 'I'd rather die!' But she kept that thought unvoiced as her eyes no doubt reflected the rebellious feeling. She didn't want to die. What would Misao do without her? What would Enishi do? He was just starting to emerge from the shell of bitterness that had encased him. If she went and died on him what would happen to the progress he'd made as a person? And what about Sano and Megumi? Without her those two would definitely screw up what could be a beautiful relationship. She thought about Yahiko and Aoshi. And she thought about Soujiro-what was his game? She couldn't let Misao marry him if he was evil and she needed to live to find out the truth.

"I'd rather stay intact," Kaoru said.

A smirk lifted the corner of Shishio's lips. "You won't think that after I'm done with you." There was a knock on the door leading into her prison. "Enter."

A woman with long, dark hair entered wearing what appeared to be a Geisha outfit. Kaoru thought for certain she was hallucinating. What would a Geisha be doing in the Middle East? "You wished to see me, Master?"

"Yes, Yumi, take the peasant there and make her presentable. I can't have her on video with blood and snot all over now can I?"

"What about your terrorist video?" Kaoru asked.

"I've changed my mind. There's another type of video I'd rather do now for my personal collection. And this way you get to keep your legs."

Fear was a vicious emotion. It paralyzed you and kept you from saving yourself when you needed to. Its what caused the deer to stand by and be struck by a car once the headlights hit them. Kaoru wanted to know where Soujiro was. Surely, this whole situation wasn't happening. The bad guys weren't supposed to win! The woman held a long syringe in her hand and brushed aside the hair that had clung to Kaoru's sweaty neck. The sharp stinging sensation of the needle pierced her skin and she felt liquid fire racing into her muscles and blood stream and then Kaoru's vision went blessedly black as her conscious went to a much happier place-anywhere but where she was at.


	18. Chapter 18

_A/N: The new live action Kenshin movie has really renewed my RK love. I'll be completing and updating both this story and Absolution in the very near future. It's been how many years since I updated? Anyways, I have the last three and final chapters finished and am just working on editing the others before I share them. I hope you feel satisfaction and entertainment with this story. Enishi + Kaoru!_

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**Battle Front: Chapter 18**

Kaoru woke up with a pounding headache. Her whole body ached and she knew she'd be covered in bruises and she worried about her lungs and the possibility of infection not to mention dehydration. When she opened her eyes she saw that there was a pitcher of water sitting in front of her as well as an empty glass. She could care less if it was drugged. Her mouth and throat were so parched that she'd risk passing out again from drugs rather than let the thirst continue.

After consuming two glasses of the refreshing water she forced herself to wait before drinking any more lest she throw up. If she drank too much at once she'd do herself more harm than good and she was already feeling more alert. A quick survey of the room showed that she was surrounded by plush pillows on the ground and tapestries adorned the walls. There was a faint light from a grouping of candles in the far corner of the room. There was enough light to see the dark purple bruises scattered across her flesh and they were more noticeable since her clothing had been changed and she now wore red and gold silken clothing that included a great deal of sheer satin. There were golden chains of necklaces with rubies adorning her neck and wrists-she looked like a harem girl. It was hard to appreciate the jewelry when instead of looking pretty it cut into her skin uncomfortably with sharp edges and the chains connected to the ground as a pretty yet effective prison-she had a visual of Princess Leia and Jabba the Hutt. As she shifted her hands the chains clinked loudly announcing each movement.

"You're very lucky," the Geisha woman Yumi said kneeling in front of her on the pillow-strewn floor. She picked up the pitcher of water and the glass and moved them to a table on the far side of the room. "Lord Shishio Makoto is the descendent of Cyrus the Great. In the old days great kingdoms would send gifts to the Persian Emperor as a sign of their respect and obedience. You should think of yourself as the gift from the American military."

"Forgive my lack of manners," Kaoru said wiping her mouth with the back of her hand and rattling her golden chains. The inelegant action earned her another disapproving look from Yumi.

The door to the dark pillow-strewn room opened and Shishio entered with a particularly cruel expression drawing down the corners of his thin lips and carving deep frown lines between his brow. "You Americans think you are so smart? I will show you smart. Hold her down, Yumi."

The other woman threw her weight at Kaoru knocking them both to the ground-Kaoru's breath wheezed out with the pressure against her injured ribs. It was chaos! Was this how Shishio planned to take her the first time? When she was weak and starving and under the weight of a woman a measly ten pounds heavier and locked to the ground in golden chains?

She wouldn't cry out. She wouldn't respond in any way. That was the vow Kaoru made to herself. That vow was quickly forgotten when Shishio's true intentions were revealed. She didn't know what sort of ancient weapon the terrorist held in his hands but she could tell that if he swung it at her that many bones would shatter. And by the terrible look in his dark, mad eyes she knew he was revisiting his earlier suggestion of destroying her means to walk.

Kaoru attempted to move her feet and legs away from the man's swings, but he had the advantage of time and her movements were severely limited. And it didn't take long before the terrible mallet connected at her ankle. Kaoru's scream hardly sounded human as it ripped from her lips. It was the worse feeling in the world—she could feel the small bones of her ankle sliding together and losing connection with the ligaments and tendons that compromised her ankle. And this time she did throw-up the water she'd just consumed revolted in her stomach from the absolute horror and pain of the attack.

The sound of her agony was no deterrent for Shishio as he continued to aim for her other ankle. "You American dogs ruined my computers! You try to make a fool of the descendant of Cyrus the Great!"

Blessedly, the next blow didn't come.

The door opened and Soujiro stood there with a gun aimed toward Shishio. "You hit her again and I'll blow your damn brains out," he warned.

Shishio lowered his mallet and gave a dismissive nod toward Yumi. She scampered away from Kaoru and left through a door hidden by a row of tapestries.

"You would betray me, Soujiro?"

"I warned you that she was important to me. Move away from her. Out that door," Soujiro said gesturing towards the door he had just entered.

"You would dare threaten me in my own strong hold?"

"Your men are all either captured or dead, Makoto."

"Then it hardly matters if I finish the job," Shishio said raising the mallet once more. Kaoru looked up in absolute terror as the mallet hovered over her and the intention of destroying her other ankle became clear. She'd never be able to dance, run, or let alone walk if he completed the crushing arc.

A shot rang out from the other side of the room opposite of Soujiro and the terrorist fell to the floor with a bloody hole in his forehead and the mallet clattered to the ground in a loud clang.

"My orders said dead or alive," Kenshin said lowering his gun. "Though it is a shame that he won't be properly interrogated now."

Tears of gratitude, pain, and terror mingled down Kaoru's cheeks as she clutched at the bloody mess that was her ankle. She could feel her body start to shut down as shock started to set in. Soujiro leaned down next to her and began to free her of the golden shackles that kept her strapped to the ground.

"At least gold is easily malleable," Soujiro said as he worked. He encouraged Kaoru to lay down amongst the pillows while he worked. "It's going to be fine. I'll get you out of here and we'll have the best trauma and surgical team available for you. I'm so sorry, I didn't think he'd go this far this soon. I thought I had time to get you out of here before he did anything so violent."

"Why?" Kaoru asked curling into the fetal position as an intense nausea overtook her body and she had to force herself not to vomit a second time.

"I was a double agent. Shishio was too unpredictable though. I should never have let him take a hostage, but it was either you or Shinomori and let's just say that Shishio enjoys chopping up his male prisoners a piece at a time starting with what would make it possible to have children. I thought I'd have more time with you as the prisoner. I thought I could protect you," Soujiro confessed. Tears were streaming from his eyes as he loosened the last of the chains. He pulled Kaoru into his arms and hugged her tight. "I'm so sorry, Kaoru."

**OoO**

Enishi looked over at Kenshin and started towards the door when given the signal to proceed by his commanding officer/brother-in-law. At that precise moment Shishio Makoto would be discovering that his precious computers were destroying themselves with the virus he planted himself when trying to view the encrypted decoy research files. There was nothing better than outsmarting a criminal mastermind. Shishio's own greed for power would be his destruction.

Kenshin would be focusing on Shishio and Enishi's primary mission was the rescue effort of Kaoru Kamiya. Enishi first found the torture room and was dismayed to see all the blood staining the floor and furniture-was it Kaoru's? There was a faint blood trail leading to the back wall and he found a passageway hidden into the recesses of the wall and followed it deep into the earth.

He silently pushed the door but it didn't budge. Enishi pulled out his multipurpose tool and began to slide it into the lock and manually forced the door open using the five-fingered discount approach. The click of the tumblers disengaging was music to his ears and he gently pushed the door open. The door opened in time for him to see Himura fire off a shot at Makoto's head.

It was then that his eyes focused on the object of his search. It was as if he stepped out of time and space and entered a parallel universe where the sultan kept his harem girls. Amongst pillows littering the floor a familiar pool of dark hair and massive amounts of glittering gold chains drew his attention. Any fantasy dream he might have had inspired were ruined by the sight of all the blood and bruises marring Kaoru's flesh.

She was clutching at her ankle and it was a violent purple and red swollen mess. Enishi didn't waste time and hurried to her side as Soujiro released her from a hug, glanced over at Enishi, and then took off and vanished behind a set of tapestries. Kaoru looked up at him. Tears of pain shown in her eyes and Enishi crouched at her side and he could feel his heart clench in his chest at seeing the extent of her injuries. Could that even be fixed?

"Enishi?" Kaoru asked in disbelief with her voice cracking with emotion and pain. "I've had a very bad day."

The skimpy mostly sheer red and gold silk costume hardly covered her and there was a visible fresh scar over her rib cage. Was she stabbed too? Her body was covered in bruises. He checked her pulse and it was a strong but with an unsteady beat of about ninety beats per minute and she was breathing, though there seemed to be a slight wheeze coming from the lung near the apparent stabbing wound. Enish ripped off his shirt and tied it tightly in a make-shift brace about her ankle to help hold the mess together and to also staunch the bleeding. He pulled her into his arms and then picked her up and cradled her against his chest.

"We're out of here," Enishi said looking over toward Kenshin for confirmation. The redhead nodded his head in affirmation. Kaoru's breathing was labored and she struggled to stay awake as her body threatened to go into shock—which he couldn't allow—if she went into a coma it was possible she wouldn't wake up again. He brushed aside her dark hair and kissed her forehead tenderly. "You're safe now, Kaoru. I'll make sure you're fixed up; just don't you go to sleep. I know this hurts like hell, but don't you dare fall asleep."

Himura stalked over toward them, took the sword strapped across his back and beheaded Shishio. Enishi held the brave, bloodied woman in his arms and followed Himura out of the dungeons of Shishio's lair. The redhead carried the decapitated head by the hair and made his way to the waiting humvee outside the compound.

A pair of soldiers met them just outside of the vehicle and one held out a plastic box to store the decapitated head while the other offered to help Enishi with Kaoru, but he rejected the assistance.

Enishi didn't loosen his grip on Kaoru and sat with her in his lap on the floor of the back of the humvee with his back braced against the wall to decrease chances of them rolling about. He'd have preferred to fly her out and strap her down to a gurney, but that wasn't an option.

"It's going to be okay, Kaoru," he promised.

Kaoru buried her face against his collarbone and he could feel the hot tears soaking into his undershirt. "I'm going to lose my foot. They're going to amputate. I'll never run again. At least he didn't use an ax like in that horror movie."

"That's not going to happen. The best orthopedic and vascular surgeons are going to work a miracle on you and then we'll have the best physical therapist work their magic and you'll be dancing with me under the moonlight."

"I want to go home," Kaoru whispered her voice cracking as she continued to sob.

"We're going home. I'll take you there myself," Enishi promised. He could see that the shirt he'd wrapped around Kaoru's ankle was stained a deep scarlet. "Himura, I need you to tie your belt as a tourniquet around her lower leg. We have to stop the bleeding."

Kenshin crouched next to Enishi in the back of the vehicle and took off his belt and tied it tight on Kaoru's lower leg. "The tourniquet could stop the blood flow entirely," he warned.

"It's a better option than bleeding out," Enishi said through gritted teeth. He held Kaoru tight against him with one hand and used the other to look at her toes under his shirt. They were still mostly normal colored, so hopefully they had time to reach the trauma surgeons before it came to the point where she'd need amputation—but regardless he'd come to a decision.

"This isn't good," Kaoru moaned. "I really don't want to lose my foot."

"It doesn't matter," Enishi told her firmly.

"How can you say that? I'll be a cripple." Her chin trembled and while Enishi didn't appreciate her negative thoughts he'd rather her be talking than unconscious. He didn't know what other sort of injuries she sustained under Shishio, but with all those bruises a concussion on top of her leg and chest trauma wasn't too far-fetched.

"I don't care if I have to carry you everywhere for the rest of your life—because if that's what it takes I will do so. I'm not letting you out of my sight. I don't want to live another day if that day won't have you in it."

Kaoru reached up and pulled off the glasses perched on his nose with their turquoise lenses. "I wanted to see your real eyes when you said that."

Enishi blinked at her. "And what do they tell you?"

"That my dark-eyed hero is serious. But, Enishi, you can't be with me every day. That's impossible. Besides, we barely get along."

"I don't care. I want to start each day sharing breakfast with you and end each night sitting next to you on the couch complaining that there's nothing on television."

"I didn't think you watched television," she said blinking her eyes drowsily.

"I don't, because there's nothing on, but I would watch it just so I can complain to you that there's nothing on," Enishi retorted shifting Kaoru's weight to try and keep her alert.

"Where's Soujiro? Is he okay?"

"He's fine," Himura reassured her. "He captured that woman that held you down. I'm sorry you were involved, Dr. Kamiya. Things should have never progressed to this level."

"I'm sorry I was involved too," Kaoru mumbled and Enishi tightened his hold possessively on her.

A few more minutes passed in silence between them but Kaoru was awake, just clutching onto his shoulders tightly and sobbing quietly. The humvee came to a halt and Enishi struggled to keep his balance perfect so that Kaoru wasn't jarred by the movement.

"They have the OR prepped," Kenshin said holding his earpiece and listening to whoever was on the other end. He opened the back door and a stretcher was waiting and Enishi reluctantly placed Kaoru on the stretcher, but he kept hold of her hand and ran alongside it toward the base hospital.

Kaoru turned to face him as they put an oxygen mask over her mouth and kept her eyes trained to his. Enishi squeezed her hand. He looked at the doctor in charge. "I want to be in the room."

"Fine, you stay on the non-sterile side with the Anesthesiologist," the surgeon agreed. "I'm going to scrub in and be there shortly. The OR is already prepared. It's going to be fine, Kaoru," he assured her touching her shoulder gently. "We're going to do everything that we can."

It didn't take long for them to sedate Kaoru and have her prepared for the surgery. Enishi grit his teeth in frustration because it was too similar to the surgery he was present for on his sister. He wanted them to save her foot, but mostly he just wanted her to be okay. He wanted to talk with her when she wasn't consumed in pain and tell her exactly how he felt.

Because Enishi Yukishiro was pretty sure that the temperamental, kind-hearted, athletic, smart girl on the operating table in front of him was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with—he just had to convince her to share that opinion.

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_I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter...looks like Enishi knows how he feels about Kaoru...funny how seeing someone almost get killed right in front of you will change your perspective! Two more chapters left, they'll be out before this summer is over! No more extended waits! Thanks for your patience! BDN_


	19. Chapter 19

_A/N: Wow, I was floored by the heart-warming reviews of you loyal readers! I'm so sorry I left you hanging for so long! Let me hope this makes it up to you! Also, Absolution is a near future project (I'm trying to do some research on Japan's history at that time to flesh it out a bit) and I do intend to finish Life at Saitou's Ranch (one day) since I extended the story...gotta do that re-reading/re-evaluation bit. Thanks for your patience and support! BDN_

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**Battle Front: Chapter Nineteen**

He was beating her again. She could feel the fiery sensation as one of her ribs snapped and the nerve pain was like electricity radiating throughout her chest. It was harder to breathe—like drowning but above water- and all she could hope for was that the pain would end soon. Why was Soujiro just standing there? Didn't he see that she was in trouble? Why didn't he stop this terrorist from beating her to death? She could feel the blood pooling inside her chest cavity from where her lung was punctured.

Then the monster was gone and Soujiro hovered over her with a knife. Was he going to punish her more? Was he going to slit her throat and be done with it? Why was this happening to her? She didn't know anything about a bioterrorist weapon. But no, the knife was used to relieve the gathering fluid in her lungs and keep the punctured one from collapsing and her chest from filling with blood. And she could breathe again no longer drowning in her own fluids.

Her hand was being squeezed. Had the monster put into some sort of vice? What would happen should she look down at it? Did she want to see?

"Kaoru, wake up. It's okay," Enishi's voice drifted into her ear. She looked around thrashing her head from left to right, cringing from the pain the movement reeked on her abused muscles. There was no one there, even Soujiro was gone, but thankfully that monster of a man was gone too. She began to tremble because it was so cold.

"You must open your eyes, Kaoru," Enishi demanded and the pressure on her hand increased. Why was he so insistent? Was he taking her to the afterlife?

"Enishi?" she whispered with a great deal of trepidation, her voice raspy from screaming. What if that monster heard her? Would he come back and abuse her more?

"Yes, it's me. Open your eyes, Kaoru. Open your eyes for me," Enishi asked. She could feel his warm breath across her cheek, but she couldn't see him. Her eyes were already opened. Was she blind too? Had he come to rescue her and she was too far gone? "Kaoru!" his impatient voice barked.

Kaoru's eyes flew open and she awoke from her strange sleep as the anesthesia wore off enough to allow her consciousness to return. The first thing she saw was a shock of white hair.

"Finally," Enishi grumbled running his free hand through his messy white locks. His other hand kept a firm grip on her hand. So it wasn't a vice after all. "If my hair hadn't already turned white from shock when I was a kid I'm sure it would be now."

"Huh?" Kaoru asked, as her mind tried to clear out the cobwebs of confusion that had settled within. Her eyes adjusted to the florescent lights and she realized she wasn't in Shishio's torture chambers any longer and that she was wearing a thin rob and laying on a hospital bed. She felt an out of body experience. She knew she was in her body, but she couldn't feel anything. Her mind raced to the concern about her damaged ankle. "My foot!"

"The surgery went well," Enishi promised. He soothed his hand over the crown of her head. "You're waking up from the anesthesia and they are pumping you full of morphine right now so that you can tolerate the pain. The surgeon is very optimistic. You'll need some physical therapy and the recovery will take some time, but you should be able to resume your old activities, thought I'd recommend you not train for any marathons any time soon."

"Weren't you shot?" Kaoru asked groggily.

"Yes, well, apparently torture trumps a couple of measly gunshot wounds. Your competitive nature couldn't just let me be the injured party." He leaned over her and brushed his lips over her forehead. "I was so worried about you," he confessed.

"I was worried about me too," Kaoru said reaching up and absently rubbing her throat. "I guess I had to be intubated?"

Enishi nodded. "They'll be moving you to a hospital room and I'll visit as soon as I'm allowed."

"Enishi, thank you for saving me."

"Seta and Himura saved you, I showed up just in time to carry you out of that hell hole." The muscle in his jaw twitched visibly. "I would have liked to have killed that monster. Or better yet, I'd have preferred to have found you before any of this happened."

"Better late, than never. I didn't know it would take being beaten half to death to get you to hug me though," Kaoru said with a wavering smile. She felt so tired. "I think I'm going to sleep again. I should sleep better knowing that the nightmare is over."

"How about you stay out of trouble and go back to sleep. I'll be right here until they make me leave."

The thought of Enishi being at her side was oddly comforting because she couldn't think of anyone else she'd rather be there at the moment. He may have claimed to have arrived too late to save her, but then why did she visualize his white hair and strong arms when she thought of safety?

**OoO**

"Captain Yukishiro, I understand your motivation for the request," General Saitou said casually lounging back in his office chair with his fingers laced together over his belly.

"Sir, Dr. Kamiya's surgery went as well as expected and her surgeon recommended medical leave and extensive physical therapy," Enishi explained. He'd done his homework and left no room for argument. The Wolf simply had to agree with his request. "My mission was a success," he added.

"Aside from all the injuries to so many elite soldiers," Saitou pointed out. "Stop sweating, Yukishiro. Himura and Seta already pleaded your case and it's been approved. After she recovers she'll be transferred to working at a VA clinic stateside-there's too great a possibility of that nasty Post Traumatic Stress Disorder if she stays here."

Enishi's jaw slackened momentarily before he collected himself. "Sir? Then why am I here?"

"I wanted to see you squirm," Saitou admitted. "Seta and Himura will also be accompanying you back to the mainland. And I wouldn't expect for you or Kamiya to be sent back out to the hotspots. Most likely your next assignment after your medical leave is up will be on a base stateside."

"Why is that exactly?"

"Himura has a lot of pull and apparently his wife has a lot of pull on him." Saitou took his cigarette from between his lips and ground it out in his ash tray.

"I see. May I be dismissed, sir?" Enishi asked.

"Soon. I wanted to ask your opinion about Lieutenant Seta's actions. He was playing double agent and while under cover he shot one of our men in a rather serious injury."

Enishi shrugged. "I'd have shot that jerk myself if I had the opportunity. Maybe he was trying to teach the arrogant icicle not to mess with his sister-in-law?"

Saitou laughed. "Get out of here, Yukishiro. I don't want to see your ugly face again."

Enishi wasted no time in saluting his superior officer and leaving the room. He was still sore from his own gunshot wounds, but it was nothing compared to Kaoru's injuries. And he couldn't wait to visit with her and let her know the good news. They'd be going home. He was looking forward to seeing Tomoe and was excited about the idea of his sister and girlfriend meeting in person.

However, before he went to visit with Kaoru he needed to stop by the gift shop and as luck would have it Private Yahiko Myojin was there browsing the giant teddy bears.

"Do you have something in mind, Private?" Enishi asked.

Yahiko glanced up. "Yeah, I'm trying to find the biggest most cuddly bear for Kaoru."

Enishi picked up a small bear dressed as a wizard. "Wouldn't she appreciate something more like this?"

"It's nice," Yahiko admitted critically. He rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. "But not right. She needs something almost as big as her so she can sleep with it and hopefully not accidentally roll onto her bad foot."

"That's a clever thought," Enishi admitted. "I wanted to purchase her a basket of flowers and maybe a cheerful stuffed animal. Perhaps we could purchase her a Get Well present from the both of us."

"Good suggestion. You make more money than me so how about I find the right thing for Kaoru and you pay for it?' Yahiko suggested.

"And why should I trust your taste over my own?"

Yahiko looked at him with an arched brow and an expression of bewilderment. "Because my taste is obviously superior. I'm the one that liked Kaoru from the start and saw what an amazing woman she is, unlike you." He wagged his finger in Enishi's face as he continued his reasoning. "And, I'm the one that's been in a successful relationship with the woman I love for many years."

"You have a point," Enishi agreed picking up the giant teddy bear that Yahiko had been inspecting when he interrupted him. "I think she'd like this one."

**OoO**

"How are you doing?" Aoshi asked.

Kaoru sat up in her bed and took the plastic cup full of ice chips and tossed a mouthful down her throat. "The stupid pain medication is making my mouth so dry," she complained. "But at least I can't feel the grinding pain in my ankle. You'd think the pins and cast they put on me would help."

"I can sympathize," Aoshi commented rubbing his hands lightly across his bandaged thighs. "Can you breathe okay? I saw your chest x-ray and saw a few ribs had been broken and a lung had been perforated too."

She glanced across at her roommate in the surgical recovery wing of the hospital. Who'd have thought that her long-term ex-boyfriend would end up being her hospital roommate? "I can breathe all right. Broken ribs are nothing in comparison to someone heaving a mallet at your feet. I'm going back home once I'm stable. Misao will be in charge of my physical therapy."

"Being shot isn't a picnic, but better than blunt trauma," Aoshi agreed. "I figured that you would return home after this," he said quietly. "It's my fault you were involved."

She couldn't really argue with that statement so she kept quiet. She'd been enjoying her bubble bath when Aoshi forced her to become involved in the bioterrorism plot.

"A lot of things are my fault lately," he continued. "I'm the one that convinced you to join the military to pay off your graduate school debts and then you're almost killed because you ended up in a war zone and then I made you a target for one of the world's biggest terrorists."

"I think you may have been right to break up with me," Kaoru said interrupting his diatribe.

"I didn't break up-"

Kaoru held up her hand to interrupt him. "I know that you and Soujiro had looked at engagement rings and you decided that you didn't want to marry me."

"I wasn't ready to marry you, yet," Aoshi corrected. "We'd been together for so long, I didn't know if we were just comfortable or if we were right. I do love you, Kaoru."

"But the fire isn't there," Kaoru guessed.

"I've never been one to have fire and there is more to love than bright flames. I have no doubt whatsoever that we could be comfortable married together. The problem is we've never even had a fight or major disagreement aside from what temperature to set the thermostat."

"And so with me you would not be happy," Kaoru said.

"I was always happy with you."

"No, you weren't. And I love you too, Aoshi, but you were right. We needed to explore life more and-" she rubbed at her cast absently. "Maybe a little less adventure would have been fine by me."

"I'm so sorry, Kaoru. I never wanted you to be hurt."

"To live is to experience pain. If you wanted to marry me there wouldn't have been any doubt," she said. "I'm not mad." She shrugged and only cringed a little at the soreness in her ribs. The morphine was like magic in her bloodstream.

"Of course you aren't," Aoshi grumbled folding his arms over his chest. "You've already moved on to Yukishiro."

"So, what? Was the plan for you to date around and then realize I'm the girl of your dreams after all? But I'm not allowed to date? I am supposed to mope and wait for you to figure things out?"

"I just didn't expect it to happen," Aoshi argued. "Do you want to just forget this whole thing? We can go back to the states and find nice civilian jobs. We can get a little townhouse together, maybe adopt a dog."

"Stop, Aoshi. Just stop," Kaoru ordered.

"Why? I thought I was what you wanted."

"First of all, you don't remember one of our previous arguments. You're a dog person and I'm a cat person, that's the reason we never had any pets. I want to be loved and appreciated. You are only interested in me now because you feel I'm unattainable. If Enishi hadn't been interested you'd have continued with your 'we should see other people' mentality."

"We're good together, Kaoru," Aoshi said moving in his bed so that he was sitting up with his legs over the side facing her.

Kaoru didn't answer. She laid back and closed her eyes. Whose brilliant idea was it to have her share a room with Aoshi Shinomori? The man was notorious for his silence and now he was talking her ear off spouting words of non-sense and confusing her. "It's the morphine speaking for you right now," she argued.

"It's not the pain medicine, I—"

The door to the room opened and Aoshi stopped speaking abruptly. Kaoru cracked open an eyelid to see the identity of the visitor. She wasn't surprised to see Enishi, but she was surprised at how rapid her heart rate became and how nervous her belly felt in his presence. Aoshi was wrong; she was past the point of no return.

"So, it might be cliché, but I figured some flowers and balloons might cheer this place up," Enishi said carrying a basket full of a colorful floral arrangement and placing it on the small table between Kaoru and Aoshi's beds. In his other arm he carried a huge teddy bear. "And this is a present from Yahiko and me. I wanted to get you the smaller bear wearing the wizards robe, but he insisted that you needed the large bear and I could hardly argue with his renowned expertise with women."

"The flowers were certainly generous, but what's Kaoru going to do with a giant bear?" Aoshi asked.

"The flowers will die and the bear will be around to keep her company when she feels sad," Enishi countered smoothly. He sat on the edge of Kaoru's bed on the side of her uninjured leg and held the bear out to her. "Hug me, Kaoru!" he demanded in a high-pitched voice.

Kaoru giggled at the pure absurdity of Enishi Yukishiro doing kiddy voices and giving her a huge teddy bear. It was also strangely flattering to hear her ex-boyfriend and her current boyfriend heckle each other.

"Oh, and at the suggestion of Megumi I brought both of you some books from the library," Enishi added pulling the tote bag he'd had slung over his shoulder off and reaching inside to take out the books. He set a few next to Kaoru's head and placed the rest on the drink tray next to Aoshi's bed.

"Percy Jackson?" Aoshi asked looking at the first book.

"And the Harry Potter series and Hunger Games. This way you two can debate after you finish reading. They are fast reads and very entertaining. I've read them myself. But if you're not a reader I also can check out some dvds for you two. I think you'll both be here for a few more days at least," Enishi explained. He rested his hand casually on the thigh of Kaoru's uninjured leg. "Megumi reviewed your cases extensively with your surgeons. They are both highly optimistic on a full recovery or at least almost as much strength and dexterity as prior to your injuries. Though there will probably be an aching feeling when it's cold, but at least there isn't any shrapnel in either of you."

Kaoru set aside the giant stuffed animal. "Do you know what's happening to Soujiro? And is Sanosuke doing all right?"

"Seta's actions are being investigated," Enishi said. "He was doing his duty as a double agent but the higher ups aren't happy about him shooting Shinomori here or for kidnapping you and putting you in harms' way."

Kaoru glanced over at Aoshi. "It was better than the alternative."

"Tell that to my shot up legs," Aoshi argued.

"Soujiro told me that Shishio was more likely to torture you than me. He preferred castrating his male victims and Soujiro thought he'd be able to keep a closer eye on me," Kaoru said. "Soujiro explained himself to me when he was releasing me from those chains."

Aoshi and Enishi both swallowed uncomfortably at the thought of Shishio's preferred torture to his male prisoners. "Then I'm grateful for these bullet wounds," Aoshi answered grimly.

"Right, and Sagara was released this morning. So, Kaoru," Enishi said focusing his dark, attentive eyes on her. "Would you consider moving into my sister's home with me upon returning to the states? She has the best physical therapist in the state of Virginia, whom I'm sure you're familiar with, and she has also offered to make the arrangements for Misao to treat you in house."

Was this a round-about way of him asking her to move in with him? Kaoru really didn't understand. She tried to think about what Misao might have told her about Tomoe and that's when she realized she'd not spoken with Misao. "Oh my, I need to talk to Misao. She has no idea about what's happened!"

"It's fine, Kaoru," Enishi said squeezing her thigh in comfort. "Yahiko called her after your return to base and I called her after your surgery's success while you were in recovery. And she and Tomoe were the ones to discuss the possibility of you moving in to the Yukishiro plantation-as an afterthought I was later invited."

Kaoru frowned at his explanation. She was glad that Misao had been kept in the loop, but did that mean that Enishi's asking her to live with him was some twisted sense of duty? She groaned holding her head in her hands—too many pain drugs circulating in her blood stream.

"And I see those gears turning in your head, stop that." Enishi reached over and pulled her hands away from her head. "Will you move in with me? My sister and her husband live in a twenty bedroom mansion. We can take the east wing to ourselves. You don't even have to share a bathroom with me!"

"You're really selling yourself," Kaoru said with a laugh. "I can't really think of any reason to say no."

Aoshi cleared his throat, but didn't argue.

**OoO**

"Jeez, watch the attitude, Ugly," Yahiko complained.

"Watch your mouth, runt!" Kaoru growled. She was walking alongside Private Myojin down the hospital hallway ambulating with a walker. It was her goal to be on a cane before she left for the states. Her surgeon and rehab facilitator had agreed that she would be free to travel by the end of the week.

"You're really improving a lot," Yahiko said ignoring her irate shout. "Did you make a decision about whether or not to move in to the Yukishiro palace?"

"It's not a palace, it's a plantation."

"Tsubame was recently accepted into Virginia Tech and lives near Williamsburg and she described the place as a palace. I think you should do it. It's an exciting opportunity."

"You think I should move in with Enishi?"

"He's not so bad once you break through his bad attitude and see he's just a big softie on the inside. And that would put you near Tsubame so I have a place to crash when I visit her if you're in a huge mansion."

"Free loader," Kaoru muttered affectionately.

Yahiko snatched the walker out from under her hands and moved fifteen feet further down the hall. "Come on, Ugly, you know you want this back so you can hit me over the head with it," he said shaking it temptingly.

Kaoru's eyes narrowed and while her balance wasn't fully restored she didn't fall on her face. Her ankle throbbed, but she made her way toward her tormenter with a determined stride.

Yahiko whistled in appreciation and set the walker in front of her and she gripped the handles in exhaustion. He laughed nervously. "Don't actually beat me with that, okay?"

"Missy!" Sanosuke's loud and rowdy voice echoed down the hall. He waved at them as he quickly approached. "I've been looking all over for you," he glanced at Yahiko briefly, "both of you, actually."

"What's going on, Sano?" Kaoru asked. The tall man had a strange look of panic on his face. "Is everything okay?"

"I'm scared out of my mind!" Sano said as he leaned down and gripped her shoulders so that they were eye-level with one another. "I'm going to ask Megumi to marry me."

"What? But you've only been together a couple of months," Kaoru said in disbelief. She knew that Sano's feelings for Megumi were the real thing, but she thought the sophisticated lady doctor might need a little more time to digest. Sano's face morphed into one of hurt. "I mean, do you think she's ready?"

"Oh! You're concerned she might say no." He nodded as if to himself and released his grip on her shoulders and stood straight. "I'm pretty sure she'll say yes. Did you see how she doted on me when she thought I was dying?"

"That does tend to speed up people's feelings," Kaoru admitted thinking about how Enishi was suddenly thrust into the scenario for her. Near death experiences seemed to cause relationships to evolve more rapidly.

"So when you going to ask her? Don't put it in her champagne or anything lame like that. It would be awkward if she accidentally swallowed it," Yahiko advised.

"I was going to ask her tonight, but I wanted to have a dinner party before hand and ask her in front of you guys because she's less likely to say no if there's an audience."

"Better be a fancy ring that way she can show it off," Kaoru said with a smile. Megumi would enjoy being proposed to in front of her friends. "We're game. I'll ask Enishi and Soujiro to join us too. Maybe Aoshi?"

"She considers all of you friends; just don't let those two fellows start a fight over you at dinner though. I've made reservations for the small room at that civilian restaurant not too far from here. And dress up!" Sano said before he took off down the hall in a hurry.

"Well, this should be interesting," Yahiko said. "Now, focus! Start walking; don't just stand around lolly-gagging!"

**OoO**

"What's on your mind?" Misao asked as she helped Tomoe stretch on the ballet barre that had recently been installed in the exercise studio of her large home.

"I'm excited about Enishi returning home," Tomoe said brushing her bangs out of her eyes. "And having your sister here too is just an amazing turn of events."

"I understand that," Misao said. She eyed her patient critically, her dark hair was plastered to her forehead and her skin had a rosy hue. "Is there anything else that's bothering you?"

"I missed my last two periods," Tomoe admitted.

"Last two periods," Misao repeated with a puzzled expression before she brightened considerably. "You're pregnant? That's great news!"

"I don't know for sure, I've been too scared to check," Tomoe said. "I haven't been with Kenshin in ten weeks. He's been overseas on that special government mission, but he'll be back any day now and with Enishi and Kaoru."

"All it takes is one night," Misao reminded her with a teasing grin. "You take a break. I'm going to the drug store right now and we're going to find out for sure."

"I don't need a break. We'll go together."

**OoO**

It was ironic that what constituted as the 'fancy' restaurant in their environment was a Shawarma Restaurant, but the staff treated them like rock stars and everyone wore their finest civilian clothing. Kaoru was surprised by how uncomfortable the situation was considering this was the first time she'd been in the same room as both Aoshi and Enishi since they shared a hospital room—that had been weeks ago.

She'd seen her ex-boyfriend a few times since then and they had been civil and polite, and things with Enishi were going well though perhaps a bit faster than she was used to with her history of a sedately paced romance. Aoshi had returned to practicing medicine while she was still doing her rehabilitation so his schedule didn't allow much time for social calls. And Enishi had turned into a shadow, following her movements whenever Yahiko, or Megumi, or Sanosuke, or Soujiro weren't there. It was as if her friends had made a pact to not let her alone in case Shishio's ghost wanted to enact revenge against her.

At the small rectangular table in the back room Kaoru sat with Enishi on her right side—the side where Shishio had exacted the worse damage to her leg and Megumi on her left with Sanosuke sitting next to her at one end of the table, Yahiko was across from Kaoru and Aoshi to his side, and Soujiro at the head of the table. There was a great deal of testosterone at the table and Kaoru suspected that Megumi knew something big was about to happen because the confident female doctor was gripping her hand tightly under the table.

"Are you okay?" Enishi whispered in her ear, leaning over while reading through the menu.

Kaoru fought the cringe that threatened to split her lips at Megumi's death-grip and smiled at her boyfriend instead. "I'm fine, just, really hungry."

She could tell by the arch of his eyebrow that he didn't believe her.

"So, tonight, I wanted you all here since two of you are heading back stateside in a few days and I wanted to spend some time with my special friends. I was hoping Kenshin would make it, but I suppose he's running late," Sanosuke said holding his wine glass tightly. "I wanted to make a toast to my friends who have been with me on the cusp of death and back again."

"To life!" Soujiro suggested.

"To life," they echoed.

The door to their private area opened and Kenshin stood in the frame with his hair in disarray. He nervously pushed aside his hair and shut the door behind him. "Sorry I'm late," he said pulling up a chair between Sanosuke and Yahiko. "What did I miss?"

"A toast to life," Sano said looking calmer.

"To life," Kenshin said holding up an extra glass of water that was at his place.

"To life," they echoed.

"Speaking of life, I'm late because I just found out some great news," Kenshin said.

"Can't it wait?" Kaoru asked sweetly with a jerk of her head toward Megumi and Sanosuke. Everyone knew why they were there.

"I'm sorry, it really can't. Tomoe is pregnant!" Kenshin exclaimed his eyes wide and purple as if he was still surprised by the news.

"That's terrific!" Megumi exclaimed releasing Kaoru's hand and clasping her hands together in front of her chest in a prayer-like pose.

"That's great, Kenshin," Sano said clapping his superior officer on the back. "And speaking of joyous events and happy endings, Megumi I wanted to ask you something."

"Just a second, dear. So, Kenshin, do you know when the baby is due? Is it a boy or a girl?" Megumi asked with an open smile.

"I don't have any of those details, yet," Kenshin said taking a generous swallow of Yahiko's wine.

"Hey! That's mine!" Yahiko complained, but was ignored.

"The second is up," Sano said impatiently with a look of panicked nervousness across his features.

"Congratulations, Kenshin. Now Sanosuke, Megumi," Kaoru interrupted, "I believe we were called here tonight for another bit of celebration."

"We were?" Megumi asked. Then her eyebrows rose dramatically and she nodded. "Right, we were." She turned to Sanosuke. "Wasn't there something you wanted to ask me in front of our dear friends?"

He nodded, forehead breaking out into a sweat. "Will you marry me, Fox?"

"Yes, you idiot! Now give me the ring already!"

"Congratulations," Aoshi said quietly when Megumi flashed around the rock Sanosuke slid on her left hand. He met Kaoru's gaze across the table briefly, but then averted his eyes back to his glass. There was a loud screeching sound whistling through the sky.

"Get down! Under the table!" Enishi shouted grabbing Kaoru and hauling her under the table. The walls of the restaurant shook under the assault.

"We get rid of one bad guy, just to have another one take his place," Yahiko complained crouching under the table with his arms held protectively over his head.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Megumi asked Kaoru shoving the diamond ring under her nose. It was as if the newly engaged woman didn't even recognize that they were under attack.

Kaoru bumped knees with Aoshi and they shared a long look—his eyes full of regret and hers calmly taking the situation in stride while Enishi's protective arm looped around her waist and Yahiko had taken hold of her hand and gripped it tightly-between him and Megumi she'd surely have bruises.

Kenshin was speaking into a communication device in his collar when the sound of helicopters roaring over their heads nearby drowned out any words amongst their party. Machine guns shattered the eerie silence that had settled over them once the roar had quieted and then the walls stopped shaking.

"Do you think we'll still be served dinner?" Soujiro asked curiously. His stomach growled loudly and he rubbed his hand over his belly. "You'd think they'd try an airstrike when we're not trying to have a celebratory dinner."

"We wouldn't be on the battle front if it weren't exciting," Megumi said hardly bothered by the anxious voices of other patrons drifting into their private room. The door separating the two sections of the restaurant hung loosely on its hinges shaken loose by the strong vibrations.

Their waiter came rushing back covered in dust and looking disheveled. "Good, no damage here," he said with a cursory look. "Your food will be delivered shortly. We apologize for the inconvenience. It seems the building down the street was attacked by terrorists."

"I think I'm ready to head back to the states," Kaoru said with gritted teeth.

Enishi squeezed her gently to his side as he helped her stand and set their chairs to rights again. "Glad to hear it," he said dusting off their section of the table with his napkin.

"Just to be clear, you did say, yes, right?" Sano asked Megumi as he helped her stand.

She nodded her head with tears in her over-bright eyes. "Yes, you stupid rooster-head. I said yes!"

* * *

_A/N: Too cheesy? Hope not, it seemed appropriate to skip around a bit in this chapter...or maybe I was inspired by the pace of the season finale of True Blood. Anyone else watch that show? Alcide...yum. =) So I'll try to have the final chapter up before my wedding! Thanks for your support!_


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter Twenty:**

It was all so very surreal. She left the battle front and rode in first class on a civilian plane next to and courtesy of Enishi Yukishiro. She'd never been in first class before and apparently Captain Yukishiro was not a man of modest financial means. The change in barometric pressure had been brutal on her recovering ankle and she'd limped off the plane, but Enishi had been quick to wrap his arm around her and make it easier to walk.

There had been a limo waiting for them at passenger pickup at the airport with a chauffeur wearing a black suit and everything. It took an hour to arrive at the Yukishiro Plantation and all the while Enishi had made it an amazing experience. There were fresh strawberries and a bowl of hot dipping chocolate as well as some sweet red wine. While her ankle still ached, her stomach and her heart were quite content.

"Oh my," Kaoru whispered at the sight of the gates outside of the Yukishiro Plantation. "Is this for real?"

"Most definitely," Enishi said popping a strawberry into his mouth. "I don't think you should drink any more of that wine," he said reaching out and taking the wine glass from her grasp. "You might need to take a pain pill later tonight and those don't mix well with alcohol." Kaoru narrowed her eyes at him. "Not that you didn't already know that, being a doctor and all," he clarified.

"You grew up here?" Kaoru asked looking at the wine glass longingly. She really could have used some extra liquid courage, but he was right about mixing alcohol with her pain medications-she didn't take them often, but after their day of travel she'd probably want one later.

"Born and raised here," Enishi confirmed. "My great great grandfather emigrated here from Japan and founded this plantation back in the late eighteen hundreds. My sister and I are the only surviving heirs."

Kaoru looked outside her tinted window and smiled widely as she recognized her little sister standing on the front porch between giant white columns reminiscent to a Greek temple waving like mad at her.

"And that must be your sister, Misao. Tomoe said she'd be staying here for at least a few weeks to help you become acclimated and to assist in both of your physical therapies," Enishi explained. The limo pulled to a halt in front of the mansion and the driver opened their door for them. "Welcome to your new home," Enishi whispered taking Kaoru's hand and walking with her to the front door.

"For now," Kaoru agreed. She didn't know what the future held for her, but it would be nice if Enishi were part of it. "Misao!" she screamed when her sister came running towards her and wrapped her in a bone crushing bear hug—her injured ribs were mostly healed, but still rather tender at the pressure.

Enishi started to step back from the two of them only to be pulled back by Misao. "No you don't mister! You saved my sister's life; you are part of this group hug!"

"Nice to meet you, Misao," Enishi said politely. "I've heard nice things about you."

"Your sister raves about how you hung the moon, Enishi," Misao said.

"And the stars," Kaoru added hooking her arm comfortably around Enishi's waist.

The butler of the house came to the door in a crisp black suit with tails. He bowed at the waist in old British aristocracy style. "Welcome home, Mr. Yukishiro and Ms. Kamiya. Your luggage will be taken to your rooms in the east wing and dinner will be on the table shortly. Mrs. Himura will join you for the evening meal." He bowed again and then gestured for the chauffeur to take the luggage upstairs.

"Does that happen a lot here?" Kaoru asked.

"You'll get used to it," Enishi said.

"Tomoe has really cut back on the hired help," Misao said. "Now there is only the chauffeur, butler, cook, housekeeper, and soon to be a live-in-nanny."

"She doesn't need a nanny," Kaoru argued.

"Oh?" Enishi asked. "Are you volunteering?"

"I'll have you know that I'm actually pretty good with children. However, I don't know where I'll be seven months from now when your sister is actually needing the extra help," Kaoru said. "Though I believe it's better for the mother to bond with her own child and not pawn him or her off to a nanny." She became distracted by the samurai armor standing sentinel just inside of the foyer.

"Great great grandfather Enishi Yukishiro was a high-ranked samurai warrior, but when his daimyo died without heirs he immigrated to the states. That was his battle armor," Enishi said following her gaze. "I'm actually named after him. After the revolution that led to the Meiji era in Japan Grandfather Yukishiro became associated with the Yakuza. It is said that he sought vengeance against one of the man-slayers of the revolution and stole his intended - only to fall in love with her himself. His love for her was so great that he forsook his vengeance and allowed her to return to her beloved and he fled to the states with a broken heart never having told her of his true feelings."

"That's so sad," Kaoru whispered.

Enishi shrugged. "He eventually married and started a family so he recovered somewhat. But I believe he loved the woman from Japan until his dying day. He named his library The Sapphire Room as it was said that her eyes were akin to the bluest of sapphires in color." He took Kaoru's hand and started to lead her to the stairs. "Come with me. I'll show you to the east wing so you can take a bath and get the airport funk washed off."

"I've got to work out my exercise plans for both you and Tomoe, so you go on ahead," Misao said with a big grin.

Kaoru allowed herself to be led up the stairs under Enishi's guidance. He brought her to a set of rooms not too far from the stairs. Her chambers consisted of a bedroom, a sitting room, and a bathroom with a large garden tub.

"Not quite the barracks, but I suppose it will do, right?" Enishi asked. He gestured towards the room across the hall. "And that's my quarters, feel free to visit me anytime-especially in the middle of the night," he said with a teasing wink.

"Right," Kaoru said swallowing hard. "I think I'll take that bath now." She could see her suit case sitting on an antique gold and beige cloth covered ottoman to the side of the bed. It was hard to believe that all her possessions had been reduced to a suitcase especially now that she could see that Yahiko was right and the Yukishiro Plantation was a huge mansion.

**OoO**

Dinner had been a quiet affair. Tomoe was polite but shy in company. They had received an important phone call during dinner from the hostess' husband Kenshin Himura. He and Soujiro Seta would soon be joining them at the plantation. Seta was to be under Himura's supervision while his actions were further reviewed by the military higher-ups. Misao had left afterwards to return to her apartment to pick up a few more items for her stay at the plantation. She and Soujiro would have a guest room set up a few doors down from Kaoru and Enishi in the east wing. Kaoru was pretty sure that Misao's need for an emergency run back to her apartment was to pick up a few special pieces of lingerie for the occasion.

She should have been overwhelmed with joy, but mostly she was overwhelmed. And more than ever Kaoru missed having her parents. She changed into a simple tank top and a pair of flannel shorts and fell into bed that night in an exhausted heap and found herself tossing and turning. As she visualized for the umpteenth time Shishio's mallet careening for her leg she bolted upright, drenched in sweat and stifled her scream with the pillow she had gripped in her arms.

However, she must not have stifled the sound enough because Enishi came rushing through her door, eyes wide, pale hair a disheveled mess, shirtless and with a pair of loose fitting pajama pants. He was at her side in an instant and had wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to his chest. "You're okay, Kaoru. Everything is fine. I'm right here."

"He's always there," Kaoru whispered.

"He's gone. He will never bother you again, I promise," Enishi said running the palm of his hand over her hair and soothing it over her back.

"Could you stay?"

"I'll always be here, Kaoru," Enishi said. He helped her settle back into the covers and lay under the blankets with her with his body wrapped around hers spooning her from behind. He knew she was suffering from PTSD and if he had to sleep with her wrapped up in his arms every night-who was he to complain. He noted that the tank top and shorts she wore wasn't sexy lingerie, but he couldn't think of anything sexier. He did see where the shirt slipped off her shoulder and showed the start of the prominent pale scar on her chest. He shifted so that his hand pressed protectively over her upper chest and shoulder.

"I don't want to mess up your sleep," Kaoru murmured apologetically.

"Hey, I'm not about to complain about sleeping with the most beautiful girl in the world."

She snorted at his words.

"Such a cynic," he said into her hair. "Go to sleep and dream about sweet things-like dancing with me under the moonlight, all right?"

"Good night, Enishi."

He waited until she fell asleep to make sure she was finally unconscious before he let his own mind wander. He thought back to her earlier comment about not knowing how long she'd be at the plantation-if he had anything to say on the matter it would be until they were both old and gray-or white haired in his case.

**OoO**

At first Enishi thought his sister was being incredibly corny in having purchased matching swim suits for him and his girlfriend. The patriotic red,white, and blue pattern in his swimming trunks were interesting, but he had seen the string bikini she'd purchased for Kaoru and was excited to have a look at it draped across the beautiful brunette. However, when they met in the hallway he was met by an anxious young woman.

"I don't know about this," Kaoru said biting her lip and folding her arms protectively across her chest, her hair was twisted up into a messy ponytail. "I don't want to burn. Scars burn very easily in the sun."

"It's an indoor pool," Enishi reassured her. "Have you seen my sister? She looks like a vampire so of course we have an indoor pool. You'll be fine." He tried to tug her gently by the elbow toward the pool area, but his girlfriend stood resolutely with her towel secured tightly across her torso. "Okay, Kaoru, what's really the problem?"

"You haven't seen the scars," she whispered averting her gaze from him, but he could see the sheen of tears in her eyes.

He hugged her to him, holding her tightly in his embrace with his chin resting comfortably on top of her head. "Oh, baby, I'm riddled with bullet holes myself. They're battle scars—you wear them with pride because they mean you're a survivor! Everyone is going to grow old and ugly eventually, but right now you've a smoking hot body that gets my blood pumping whenever I think about you."

Kaoru laughed and slapped at his chest lightly. "Don't ever call your girlfriend ugly, you idiot."

Enishi scooped her up and held her close to him while he walked with purposeful strides towards the pool. Her towel slipped away and he could see clearly for the first time the white scar lines from where Shishio had tried to carve open her chest, but it hardly detracted from her overall beauty. And the bikini was certainly flattering with one breast covered in white and one in blue with a white star and red skimpy bottoms—it left little to the imagination, but Enishi prized himself on his imagination. "Definitely, not ugly," he said with a smirk and kissed her soundly on the lips before jumping into the deep end of the pool together.

Kaoru squealed when they hit the chilled water and Enishi laughed hardily proud of himself and his witty actions. He kicked his feet under the water and kept them both afloat. He kept a firm grip around Kaoru's waist pressing her body against his while he trailed his right hand to her face and threaded his fingers through her hair and brought her lips to his and kissed her deeply with his tongue exploring the deep confines of her mouth and finally ending with a trio of soft kisses gently pressing their lips together. By the time he drew back her skin was flushed and she had a dreamy expression.

"Just so you know, I'm in love with you," Enishi said, causing those blue dreamy eyes to snap open and blink at him in astonishment. "You don't have to act so surprised," he grouched.

"It's no act, I promise," Kaoru said her hands gripping his shoulders tight. "When did this happen?"

"You remember that night I tried to teach you about the constellations and you turned down my generous offer?"

"Right, because you were being a jerk as usual. However, I did appreciate your attempt to apologize."

"Well, when you told me where to stick it that's when I fell for you. I've been falling ever since. You're confident, brave, strong, smart, and gorgeous. I have to wonder what took me so long to fall in love with you."

"But, you didn't even like me," Kaoru argued.

"The problem was that I liked you too much and it scared me and I become surly when I become scared. Surely, you remember as children how the boy on the play ground always teased the girl he liked best. Adults aren't that mature sometimes."

"Is that why you asked me to move here?"

"Would it scare you if I said, yes?"

Kaoru opened her mouth, then shut it, staring at him speechless. She didn't have a chance to collect her thoughts and respond because the door to the indoor pool room slammed open and Misao and Soujiro raced to the pool in their swimming suits. "Geronimo!" Soujiro shouted as he cannon-balled into the pool right next to Kaoru and Enishi.

Misao laughed giddily before she dived into the deep end smoothly and cleanly. She swam up next to the three. "You two aren't having a serious conversation now are you? That is not allowed in the pool!"

"Right! The pool is meant for fun and games and dunking!" Soujiro agreed reaching out to pull Kaoru under, but Enishi snatched her out of the way.

"Dunk your own girl," Enishi warned, he didn't expect Kaoru to take advantage of him and send him under. He came sputtering up in surprise to find Kaoru smiling at him timidly. "Kaoru!" he admonished in mock anger before he wrapped his arms around her, kissed her again, and dunked them both under the water.

**OoO**

Kaoru had finished her exercises on the barre and was stretching out her sore muscles while watching Tomoe walk across the length of the physical therapy room unassisted. It was a slow pace, but it was perfectly balanced. She practically floated across the floor with grace.

"You've really progressed leaps and bounds, Tomoe!" Misao complimented. "I wonder if it has anything to do with that new center of gravity of yours."

Tomoe on reflex cupped her hands over her growing belly. "She's certainly been an encouragement," she said softly. She glanced across the room and her dark eyes locked on Kaoru's. "And having you and my brother back home have been an added blessing-perhaps my little girl will have a cousin to play with?"

"Uh, maybe we should focus on the engaged couple-Misao and Soujiro," Kaoru suggested.

"Oh please, I've seen the way my brother looks at you. He's never looked at anyone that way before. A Yukishiro does not bring home a stray to the plantation. A Yukishiro brings home a future spouse," Tomoe explained. She waved her hand at Misao and the physical therapist hurried to the pregnant patient's side and helped her to have a seat. And when Tomoe Himura sat she looked like an empress addressing her people.

"Maybe we can just focus on you and your recovery. You must be so happy to have your husband back," Kaoru said.

"It has been a blessing," Tomoe agreed. "Your sister has been a gift from heaven. If it wasn't for her I'd still be in my wheel chair and I doubt if I would have been pregnant. To be honest, I'd probably be bed ridden and wallowing in my old depression."

"You wanted to improve," Misao said. "I only facilitated your desire."

The door to the room opened and Enishi rushed inside and skidded to a halt not realizing the occupancy of the room. He glanced around cautiously, eyes pausing on Kaoru before clearing his throat and directing his attention to Misao. "The uh, question I asked earlier. Yes or no?"

"Definitely, yes," Misao said with a grin.

"Yes what?" Kaoru asked suspiciously.

"Yes, to his question. It doesn't concern you. Go back to your stretches, Kaoru," Misao scolded.

Enishi flashed both Kaoru and his sister Tomoe a big grin before he turned on his heel and left the room.

**OoO**

"Your therapist gave me permission-just so you know," Enishi said leading Kaoru outside. She had a bandana wrapped around her eyes so she couldn't see and followed him blindly.

"You mean my sister?" Kaoru asked holding onto his hand tightly and hoping that she wouldn't trip on any uneven stones.

"It's a full moon tonight and I thought you might appreciate the ambiance," Enishi said as he came to a stop. He stood in front of Kaoru and wrapped her in his arms before he lifted off her blinding bandana. They stood in a large garden with many fragrant flowers and a low stone wall. The only thing missing was a swarm of lightning bugs.

"So, you wanted to take me outside?"

He hugged her close and swayed gently. "I asked permission if you could handle some dancing under the starlight. And when our feet hurt too much to dance any more I'll teach you about those constellations."

"So what sort of dancing were you thinking of doing? I can two-step and do a little salsa."

"My dear, I'm about to teach you the wonders of Swing Dance."

"You can swing dance? How did you learn? That's like that World War II USO girl type music, right?"

"It was popular during the forties," Enishi agreed. "And I learned mostly through YouTube and then I took a few workshop classes in college." He leaned down and turned on the stereo that had been sitting on top of the stone wall and some classic big band music drifted on the air. He placed one hand on the center of her back and the other held her right hand. "We start with the rock step," he instructed.

Within the hour, he had her swing dancing like a pro scooching behind him and turning under his arms and doing the Charleston with their legs moving in synch. They were laughing as much as sweating.

"That was fun!" Kaoru admitted when they sat side by side on the stone wall. Enishi turned down the volume of the stereo. "Now, why would I want to learn about constellations? I'm not sailor."

"I want to make sure you can find your way home."

"Follow the north star?"

"Find me, I'm your home," Enishi said with a smile.

Kaoru leaned her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes in contentment. "I think you're right."

"Does this mean you can see yourself staying here after the baby is born?" Enishi prodded.

"You'll have a hard time getting rid of me now Captain Yukishiro."

"Why would I want to do a fool-hardy thing like that, Dr. Kamiya?"

Kaoru angled her face so that she was looking up at Enishi and met his gaze with her own. "I might as well tell you-I love you too."

"I know," Enishi said leaning down and kissing her.

Kaoru pushed him aside and sputtered indignantly. "I tell you that I love you and all you have to say is 'I know'? What the heck?"

"I know, because you look at me the same way that I look at you. Now shut up and kiss me some more."

* * *

_A/N: What did you think? Did you like the reference to the canon universe of Enishi and Kaoru in perhaps their former life? I mean…why else would there be a bunch of Japanese characters in the American military? Thanks for your support over the years & for not giving up on this story!_

_Now, to answer some questions posted in the reviews-Originally I had planned to kill off Aoshi, then I thought I'd kill of Sanosuke, and hook up a heart-broken Megumi with Aoshi, then I decided, why not let everyone live for once? And since I was being evil with all these thoughts of killing off my characters I decided to make it up to the universe by creating life. Why did I choose to make Tomoe & Kenshin's child a girl? Because Kenshin had a son with Kaoru in the canon and I didn't want to take away from that. Another brainstorm was to have Aoshi having an affair with a floozy named Candy in an effort to help Kaoru get over him, but that just seemed mean and out of character and I adore Aoshi too much to belittle him like that. And I really do think that Enishi had feelings for Kaoru in the series. This was a fun story to write and I hope I didn't upset any military readers out there by describing combat in a poor, unrealistic way...my knowledge/influence comes from the GI Joe movies-I'm sure they are just SO accurate! _

_Much love! BDN_


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